98 XJ door hinge bolts suck!

[blistovmhz]

My XJ's door hinge pins needed replacing. It was a whore. Figured I'd post a few things for someone else.

The older XJ's hinges were way stronger and easier to work on. The 98+ are horrible. The door hinge is held on by #40 torx bolts and there's not enough room in between the door and the unibody, to get a decent size bit in there and also get some pressure on it so it doesn't just strip out. I could get the two front bolts out but the 4 rear wouldn't budge without stripping the torx.
Also, on older XJ's there was a wire harness connector on the door so you could just unplug and then remove the door. 98+ doesn't have the connector because Chrysler is cheap as hell. You'll have to remove your door panel to get the wires out before doing anything. In my case, I also had the entire door dynamatted, so most of that had to come off as well.

I gave up on the torx bolts and used a sawzall to cut the bolt heads off. I tried to use some nuts on the inside of the door to back the bolts out, but couldn't get them to bite without stripping the bolt. Once I'd cut the bolts off, I removed the rest of the bolt from the door side (with much anger). Inside the door, the bolts actually bolt to a plate. Once the bolt heads are off, you can remove the plate from the door and remove the bolts.

When I put it all back together, I used some M8-1.25x16mm bolts to put everything back together. Infinitely easier to install and remove again later with a box wrench .

As for the door pins. I ground the top of the pin off with a cutoff wheel first, then tried to punch them out. Don't do this. You'll tear your hinges off the unibody like I did. I had to weld the top hinge back on, which is a bitch because there's no room to work in there.
I got the second pin out by grinding the top of the pin off, then drilling a hole in the top of the pin. From there, I used a big u-clamp and/or a ball joint press to push the pin out. The new pins are slightly over sized, so they wouldn't press in so I had to drill out the top hole of the hinges a tiny bit before pressing them back in with the BJ press.

All in all, I could've done this in about 30-45 minutes if I'd known what I know now. Instead, I spent about 5 hours on it

Hope this helps someone.

 

[boncrshr]

I did this yesterday on my 2000XJ and it sucked...Blisto was right on all counts, just wanted to summarize a few key points that I was confused about prior to the job.
1) You should remove the doors..I guess it could maybe be done with them on, I just don't see it.
2) I cut the old hinges in the middle with a dremel and they came out really easy.
3) If you are using a Dorman kit, you will HAVE to carefully enlarge the hole that the grooved end of the new pin goes in. The new hinge pins are hard and will not deform. It is best to do your test fitting with the hinge in a vise and get it right before you try and install on the vehicle.

It is not too bad if you know the above going in.

 

[boncrshr]

Just a little follow up after my 30 mile drive to work today...this was a most satisfying project because with the door off I repaired all of the cracked wires that pass through the door. My lock switches, windows and driver's side speaker now function properly.
The biggest plus is that me and a buddy spent some time getting the door adjusted properly and my Jeep is now SILENT with no wind noise at 80mph. Wow, I am not used to that, but I like it.

 

[Matthew Currie]

As I recall from long ago fixing the sagged out hinges on my stepson's two door 93, I had to take the front fender off anyway to weld the torn metal, and found that there was also plenty of clearance for the bolts then. It may end up easier to take off the fenders if you're planning to save the hinges.

When the hinge pins on my 87 got sloppy, I went to a farm supplier for new roll pins. Hammer in new ones, which push old ones out. Silly easy by comparison with the later ones.

 

[XJBucko]

When the hinge pins on my 87 got sloppy, I went to a farm supplier for new roll pins. Hammer in new ones, which push old ones out. Silly easy by comparison with the later ones.

Old post, I know ... but just wondering about a way to punch out those hing roll pins to remove the doors (since I can't get at the torx bolts easily on my 89 two door).