Bay Door Hinge

[Lin]

In our last episode, I had decided to re-enforce the corners of two bay doors with stainless steel hinges.  This was being done because the gas strut used to hold up the doors was tearing the rubber hinge.  The plan was to just slip the new stainless one in place and all would be good.  That, of course, was before I actually looked at how the system works.  This in an MC5a.  The doors are about 55" x 29", but the rail that takes the upper part of the hinge is a good deal longer, so it appears that I need to remove the entire old hinge to slip the steel hinge into the corner it is needed.  This creates a question of process and finish.  Should I therefore just slice though the old hinge and then remove the upper rail, mount the new hinges in the door and lose rail, and then hang the door and rail together?  As long as I am at this level, would I be best off using all stainless hinges rather than a combo of one stainless and the rest rubber?  If so, how many stainless hinges would I need per door.  It looks like three would work fine, but I prefer not to guess here.  Also, does the rail require any sealing when re-mounted?

[gus]

Lin,

You are exactly at the point at which I decided to hell with SS and got good quality rubber hinges. I've never regretted that decision and the hinges are still going strong aftere more than two years.

Some rubber hinges are junk and I had a go with those for a short time.

As I remember about two inches of each of both upper and lower hinge slots had to be cut to allow the SS hinges to be inserted. I decided this was too hard to do with the slot attached to the bus and that it was much too much trouble to remove the slot.

[Lin]

Gus, I see your point, but didn't you have to remove the whole  slotted rail anyway to install the new soft hinge? 

[Ed Hackenbruch]

Yes you need to take the strip off and be very careful when you do it as it is Aluminum and because of the length it will bend easily.   I replaced my hinges 3 or 4 years ago with the ones, ( Bison Tuff ) from Stuart Bonney in Ore.  I also this past year put small cables on the upper inside corners of the bay doors just as an extra precaution in case a hinge ever fails. Hopefully i won't lose the door while going down the road.  I have one door where the adjustable gas strut is pushing it out slightly at the top and i am making a couple of struts like they used on the 5 B. Only buses that had them as far as i can tell, I have one of those on one of my doors and really like it.....it is a spring loaded 2 piece telescoping tube that you can pin in place when it is open so the door will never come crashing down on you like a gas strut will when it gets weak. Been there , done that, no fun.

[DSweet]

We have replaced all of the rubber hinges on the curb side of our 4104 and
weather stripped the top of the doors.  No problem at all, it does take two
people, four hands to do the job.  We are satisfied.  One man's meat is another's
poison, I guess. 
Blessings,
David
PD4104-2977
Winton, CA

[Lin]

I wanted to update y'all on how things are turning out and pass along a few observations.  I installed the steel hinge on one door in the corner by the gas strut.  It required cutting 4" (the length of the hinge) off one of the walls of the upper slot.  That was easy enough by just peeling the molding back enough to make the cut.  The hardest part of the whole deal was removing the rubber from the first 4-6" of both slots.  Once that was done, it was simple to put the hinge into the upper slot and then tap it along until fully inserted in both.  It appears that this will work.  I may have been safer with a bit lighter strut, but, aside from the hinge slightly readjusting its rotation in the slot as the door is opened and closed, I do not see any problems.  If I were going to do entire doors, I would seriously consider using all steel.  I like the grace of the rubber hinges, but the steel will last much longer.

One observation here is that these gas struts are the natural enemy of rubber hinges.  Obviously, when the door is open, the entire stress is placed on one corner of the hinge.  Further, and I think of more importance, is that that stress is significantly increased when you go to close the door.  So, it is not that difficult to start a small tear in the hinge.  Once it starts, it is likely to continue across the door as the stress from frighting the strut helps it along.  Using two struts, one at each corner, would be an improvement, but the steel is a real solution.  There are better quality rubber hinges available too, but the strut will always be trying to rip it.

Ed,

I think that what you are doing is a good alternative.  If I understand your system correctly, you will at least not be stressing the hinge as you close the door since, once unpinned, you will not need a large force to do it.

[Ed Hackenbruch]

Not only is there not a lot of force involved in closing the door there is not a lot of effort involved in opening the one door that has that strut on it.......which is why i want to have them on the other 3.   I looked around and was able to get 2 upper tubes and  springs but not the lower tubes from a 5 owner in Ca. a couple of years ago.  Have to make my own lower tubes for those and they are an oddball size.  Will have to make one complete strut......i think finding the right spring is going to be the hard part.