The door on my 1965 overlander was pretty well trashed. Broken at four points and did not close. This is how I fixed it. The product is called Durafix. it is an aluminium welding rod that basically works like a solder. I know, it sounds crazy, right? Believe it or not it works great. Actually better than great. Anyone can do this as long as the directions are followed EXACTLY!!!! I added support to this door frame mainly because I felt it was just too under engineered.
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TV1: Black Sheep, 2001 Dodge 3500, 800,xxx miles,a few non-stock parts here and there...
TV2: Brownie, 1989 Dodge W250, only 253,000 miles!
order off internet. do google search for durafix. if I remember right it's like 48 or 50 bucks for one pound. I used just under one pound for the door work and some of that was used just getting the hang of it on some scrap aluminium. if you have a big job like I did, I recommend purchasing the 2 pound kit that comes with everything you need if you do not have a propane or mapp gas torch (which is all you need to do this) or just purchase the 2 pounds of rod and it comes with the stainless steel brush. Again, FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS EXACTLY!!!!!! The stainless brush is the most important and do not substitute!
nate how did you get your door pin out? my 65 caravel has the same pin and it wont budge. i have hammered it up and down and get no movement. i just dont feel like cutting it out and then having to deal with the aftermath. any ideas? did yours come out easily?
kevin
Kevin, to be honest cutting it out was the only way mine would come out. It really wasn't that bad though. I just cut between the hinges with a die grinder and a cut off wheel. The stainless washers shims will get destroyed but that is no big deal because they are only 1/4" stainless flat washers you can get at home depot or any hardware store. By cutting the pin into small sections it was way easier to remove. In fact they come out surprisingly easy. Make sure you remove the small roll pin that is driven through the center part of the hinge and pin. The pin, if you do end up cutting it out, is just a 1/4" stainless round rod. You should be able to find this at any place that sales metals.
I thought the same thing about being too good to be true but once I used it all my skepticism about the product went away. The first thing I tried it on was two pieces of 1/2" thick aluminium scrap that I welded together in an "L" shape and then mounted it in a vise and tried too break the "L" off. All it did was bend the aluminium and didn't even fracture the weld at all! The stuff works great for patching holes in the side of the Airstream as well.
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