The hinges on my door seem bent somewhat both lower and upper hinges. The door also is sprung at the bottom with 1/2" gap both sides. The hinges move somewhat when opening and closing the door. I have the feeling that someone tried to crow bar it open from the open. Is there a good set of replacement hinges available that are identical to the factory ones? I assume the skin will need to come off and the frame bent back into position. What are the specs for the aluminum skin that will be replaced and is this something you obtain locally? I'll try and post pictures.
Thanks
roof locker tracks (plastic) square cornered astrodome screen 63 refer, or at least the original door insert 2 12v hehr motors (working) w/ or w/o fan blade
The hinges on my door seem bent somewhat both lower and upper hinges. The door also is sprung at the bottom with 1/2" gap both sides. The hinges move somewhat when opening and closing the door. I have the feeling that someone tried to crow bar it open from the open. Is there a good set of replacement hinges available that are identical to the factory ones? I assume the skin will need to come off and the frame bent back into position. What are the specs for the aluminum skin that will be replaced and is this something you obtain locally? I'll try and post pictures.
Thanks
While someone may have tried to break into your coach at some point in the past, my suspicion is that the door likely blew open when in transit or when an entering or exiting occupant was taken by surprise when a strong gust of wind may have caught the door. I know that both of the above have happened to my Overlander in the past, and it had gaps along the bottom similar to what you describe. Depending upon the severity, this damage can be repaired using a fairly simple wood brace and firm hand pressure to bring the top and/or bottom edge of the door back into alignment. The solution was outlined in a thread that I believe was called "Sprung Door Repair".
The hinges may just need new hinge pins. When I purchased my Overlander in 1995, I was able to get new hinge pins from a nearby Airstream dealer who had been in business when the coach was new -- I would think that there should be a generic equivalent. As posted earlier, Vintage Trailer Supply also has these hinges available as reproduction -- but be forewarned that they may not be a direct replacement -- some adjustment may be necessary.
Good luck with your search for a solution!
Kevin
__________________
Kevin D. Allen WBCCI (Lifetime Member)/VAC/Free Wheelers #6359 AIR #827
1964 Overlander International/1999 GMC K2500 Suburban (7400 VORTEC/4.11 Differentials)
1978 Argosy Minuet 6.0 Metre/1975 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible (8.2 Liter V8/2.70 Final Drive)
Last edited by overlander64; 07-15-2009 at 12:34 AM.
Here are the pictures of my next issue. The door is gapped at the bottom. The hinges appear to shift somewhat during opening and closing. I don't know if the rivets are shot that hold them in place or not. Does anyone know which rivets are used too hold the hinge to the shell. They appear larger than the Olympic rivets. The hinges have a slight "waviness" to them in the middle. I don't know if this is standard or is from stress from wear and tear? I will take a picture of th hinges and post it as soon as I can. The door looks fixable. The bottom hinge pin is 2/3 the way in and this could be a factor in the operation of the door. It looks to me like the door needs to come off along with the aluminum skin and then made to take the same shape as the shell. Does anyone know of a post that is exacting on this subject? I also have the central door to deal with and this would probably be the time to replace the center screen. What are the specs on the replacement aluminum?
Thanks.
Can you post some close-ups of your hinges?
I have my '64 safari apart right now and I can show you the inside of the wall and the back of the hinge if you want.
Rich
Here are the pictures of the hinges. If you can notice, the hinge metal is "wavy" near the pin. I'm not sure why this is and if if is to be treated or not. I'm trying to work with the existing hinges to make this work. Any input appreciated as the door is an important issue.
Thanks.
The hinges had a built-in angle on the long half of the hinge. This was there, in part, to pull the door closer to the body of the coach. Several years ago, I purchased an NOS hinge for my Overlander, and it had the angle just like the one on my door -- and yours. I haven't heard whether there is any history of changing the angle of the hinge half with a metal brake to adjust alignment, but it is something that I have often wondered. It does, however, appear that your door may have blown open in-transit or been caught by a strong gust of wind when someone was entering or leaving the coach. The one hinge half that is attached with steel rivets or screws appears to have been removed at sometime, and does appear to have some waviness that would not have been there originally. If the portion of that hinge that attaches to the main door also has steel rivets or screws, it may be that the hinge separated while in-transit and opened the pathway for the door to blow open.
Kevin
__________________
Kevin D. Allen WBCCI (Lifetime Member)/VAC/Free Wheelers #6359 AIR #827
1964 Overlander International/1999 GMC K2500 Suburban (7400 VORTEC/4.11 Differentials)
1978 Argosy Minuet 6.0 Metre/1975 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible (8.2 Liter V8/2.70 Final Drive)
Last edited by overlander64; 07-24-2009 at 10:14 PM.
The angle in the hinge is there to bring the two hinge pins into alignment with each other. If the pins are not aligned they will fight against each other as you open the door. I've seen the same thing on compound curved cabinets before.
You definitly had a door problem in the past. On mine the rubber door stop was noticeably pushed into the skin from the door whacking it hard and the top of my door was 1/2" away from the skin when fully closed. We don't have the iron door frame in ours from what I understand, which means we can bend our doors back into shape without taking them apart. I put a 2 x 4 in the doorway at the level of the strike to hold the door away from the side of the Airstream, and then I got onto a step ladder and pushed the top of the door hard towards the trailer. It took a few tries to get it right. My door is well aligned now, and it took about fifteen minutes!
The rusty fastners on your hinges are a dead-giveaway. Whoever "fixed" this didn't know what they were doing. You need to remove those fastners and replace them with stainless steel or bucked aluminum rivets. Inside the wall there is an aluminum plate to reinforce the skin where the hinge is attached. I tried to get a picture of it but it's covered in the black tar that they sealed the interior of the shell with, so It looks like a puddle of tar. If you open the wall to fix this you will need to remove the bucked rivets in the doorway and replace them when you are done. If your skin is in good shape where the hinge attaches, you could possibly drill out the rivets and put in olympics without removing the interior skin at all. But, if there is any issue with the skin there, you really need to open it up from inside to add another reinforceing plate, and seal it to the skin so it won't leak in the future. I can see what looks like vulkem or gutterseal around the top hinge which is an indicator that it was leaking at some time. In severe circumstances it can be necessary to put a plate on the outside of the skin or replace the whole side panel to give you something to attach to again.
Hopefully you won't need to go there with yours.
Quick Links
63 PARTS NEEDED
Hybrid Mode
