Front door hinge pin repair - Part 1

I attempted to remove the left hand side front door pin using one of these Bob Drake hinge pin tools. Unfortunately I had no success and the shortest push rod from the tool snapped clean off and didn’t budge the pin.


The driver’s side (RHS) mirror stalk had been snapped off years ago so I decided to try the method of drilling the door pin out and then reaming to suit the oversize mirror stalks or hinge pin.


To make the drilling process easier I decided to remove the hinge from the door. The first step to remove the hinge was to drill out the factory rivets until the heads broke free and the rivet could be removed. I started off with a small hole and went up in size until the rivet head broke loose.

Front door hinge pin repair - Part 2

Pic of the rivets removed from the door…


The next step was to mark out and cut two sections which would allow the hinge to be removed from the door. I used a small cut-off wheel in a Dremel to make the cuts. The sheet metal was then carefully peeled back and the hinge removed…

Front door hinge pin repair – Part 3

I ground the top and bottom of the existing pin almost flush with the hinge surface then centre punched both ends so the drill bit would locate.


I then drilled out the pin, size by size until there was just a small layer of the pin remaining inside the shaft.


This pic shows the thin layer remaining inside the shaft…


This step is where the dremel came in handy again. This time with a small tip grinding tool.


I used this little grinding tool to carefully grind out a small section of the remaining layer of the pin. This released the pressure from the pin and broke the rusted seal.


I could then use a small flat punch to drive out the remainder of the pin and leave the shaft inside the hinge untouched and undamaged.

Front door hinge pin repair – Part 4

A 5/16 drill bit was used to open the hole in both parts of the hinge…


The 5/16 drill bit allowed the .3220” reamer (Purchased from Wolfsburg West) to accurately remove the remaining material and create a hole which would be spot on for the new oversize hinge pins/ mirror stalks.


Using the reamer in the drill press at a low speed…


The new pin fitted through both parts of the hinge and was firm and moving freely. I used counter-sunk bolts and nyloc nuts to re-attach the hinge to the door. The hinge will soon be removed so I can sand blast and paint the cavity behind the hinge. The hinge can then be re-installed and the cuts I made can be welded and ground back.

Good work! Thanks for sharing.

This must be one of the last CKD Aussie buses, as at some point in 63 the Louvers were moved higher up and the clayton vw plant was pressing its own pannels

Nice work, I shall look forward to seeing this one come to life.

Jason