mci9 battery door hinge

[ttomas]

Hi guys, the battery door hinge on my mc9 disconnected. what is a good way to repair the hinge. is a stainless hinge available?  Thanks Tom

[Frank @ TX]

Hi Tom,
I have a 9 also and I replaced the rubber hinge twice already.
The replacement takes about 1 hour with a little help from my wife and a beer.
You can get the rubber hinge from Luke at US Coach in NJ.
All you do is clean out the grooves of the old rubber then put soapy water in the grooves and the rubber, then slip it together.
I remove the aluminum grooved part from the body ( it's a lot easyer that way ).
I put the rubber in the door hinge and the grooved piece from the body , then screw the body part back on to the the frame.
If the replacement was much harder or longer I would have looked into a stainless hinge.
It's really a quick change out.

Frank

[ttomas]

Thanks Luke, Should I buy 2 hinges and have one for a spare? I will probably use the door often. Thanks, Tom

[jjrbus]

 When i bought the hinge from Luke he sent me about 4 feet of it.  I am just using the rubber hinge again because of time. My hinge just broke, no cracking or slowly separating it just broke, complete surprise.
I am going to order a heavy duty SS hinge from somewhere like Moore hardware and replace the rubber one as time permits.

[Hartley]

I pulled the old hinge system off and used a stainless replacement.
I used a piece of 1" industrial stainless piano hinge and cut it to fit
and riveted it into the old attaching holes.

Reason?

I went on a 300 mile run and luckily as I was pulling back into the driveway I hit
a small bump and the battery door just fell off and dragged along by the prop-bar.

If that had happened on the highway at 70 mph there would have been a serious
problem. That is just too scary....

Dave

[belfert]

Is there some way to install a metal cable to the door and the body at each end of the hinge so the door won't land on the road if the hinge fails?  The cable would have to attach very close to the hinge to keep the cable short enough so the door doesn't just drag down the road.

I've thought about this on my Dina as the battery door uses a rubber hinge and it would be next to impossible to replace the battery door if I lost it.  MCI doesn't stock new doors, but there is a small chance MCI could have one made in Brazil for big bucks.  At least I don't have to open the battery door to get to the disconnect.

(The Dina uses a Dina chassis made in Mexico and a Macro Polo body made in Brazil.  Previous body parts have come from Brazil when still available.)

[Tom Y]

Brian, I would not use cable unless it is coated. May cause a short with the batteries.  Tom

[belfert]

Brian, I would not use cable unless it is coated. May cause a short with the batteries.  Tom

In my case, the batteries are under another cover.  I was figuring the cables would be short enough to not hit the batteries in other bus models, but maybe not.