OMG, my door is going to fall off.

[Dave Siegel]

We have a 1948 Silversides and as I was preparing the bus for a trip this weekend I noticed that the top hinge (actually it's about 60% of the way up the door) is broken and only hanging on by a small percentage of the hinge.

Does anyone have a hinge that is for that bus, or does someone have an alternate suggestion for a replacement?

Dave Siegel

[5B Steve]

    Dave,  You might be able to replace it with a heavy duty piano hinge. Home Depot, Lowe's

   Steve 5B....

[gumpy]

Assuming it's steel, take it off and weld it.

[Oonrahnjay]

    Dave, you could replace or fix the top one but the first thing that popped into my mind was "if the top one is that badly bent, is the bottom one damaged, too?"   Have you very carefully inspected the other hinge (s) to be sure that the big damage you see isn't the only damage?

[Dave Siegel]

Thanks for the great questions. There are two hinges on the door, the top one resembles a large heavy duty butt hinge. It is made of cast aluminum. There are three areas that wrap around the swivel pin. The bottom wrap is completely broken, the middle wrap is cracked but not totally separated, and the top wrap is cracked but not separated at all. The bottom hinge is a very large 90 degree pin with a hook that hangs on it. (I guess because the door is so heavy it is designed so that you could place the door on the lower hook and then line the door up to the upper hinge location.

The hinge is original so it is 53 years old and looks well worn. Removal will require drilling all of the mounting screws out and re-taping the screw holes., I don't know how strong welded cast aluminum would be but it looks like a real heavy duty commercial door hinge might work. The bottom hinge is in fine shape.

We left the house this morning carefully using the door and trying not to put any extra pressure on the door. (We needed this time off so here we are at the Red Coconut . we will use the door as little as possible and try to fix it next week. But I am open to all suggestions.

Dave Siegel

[Just Dallas]

Methinks Dave is having some 'wishful' math dementia! 1948 from 2011 isn't exactly 53 years. 

I know I wasn't well worn at 53. I was as spry as a 50 year old.

The hinge is original so it is 53 years old and looks well worn.
Dave Siegel

[gumpy]

Well, I still think a good tig welder might be able to fix it.

However, if the inner tube is too worn, then you might consider making a new one out of steel. Use an appropriate size of tube and cold roll pin stock to make the hinge section. Weld
it to a plate. Use the old hinge for hole template. Drill the plates accordingly.  Would be fairly simple to drill and tap the hinge pieces to accommodate grease zerks. If you want to get
real fancy, drill down the inside of the pin from the end and insert a zerk. Then cross drill so that grease will get to each hinge section.

[uncle ned]

Dave   I believe I would call Gene Russel again.  I bet he could find you a hinge in his box of goodies.

Then it would be as good as the power steering.

Still waiting on the report of the difference of your trip up and the trip back home.

People want to know.

uncle Ned

[pipopak]

  .....heavy duty piano hinge. Home Depot, Lowe's.....

   

"Heavy duty", "Lowe's" and "Home Depot", all in the same sentence, are mutually exclusive....