Repairing the Hinges??

[yd328]

I am working on the hood hinges and I have one broken hinge pin, and assuming the pin should be one piece they are all broken. Has anyone fixed or replaced the pins in the hinges? How did you do it?
I am considering try to replace them with steel rod and mushrooming the ends.

Thanks Gary

[beerman]

Yes the hinges can be re-built. I bought a bunch of old hinges a  few years or so ago that all had broken pins. You can use 5/16 rod for the pins. Some I drilled out and some I need to finish. A few years ago someone on the G503, was re-building them using brass pins, so they would not rust and freeze up. I am going to try both methods and see which I like better. Its the story of my life start a project then never finish it.

[steve-0]

the hinges are actually pretty easy to restore.

first drill out the pin with something like a 1/8" bit.
drill half way in from each side.  then drill out with a 1/4" bit.
at this time you may be able to punch out the pin. if not then drill out with 5/16"

buy some 5/16" x 4 1/2" grade 8 bolts. this will give you an unthreaded portion of 3 1/2"
profile the heads like i did here.
http://halftrackinfo.com/index.php?topic=1220.0

install and cut off so that about 5/16" sticks out. heat the end to red with a torch and hammer it.

place it on a flat table and make sure it lays flat, if not you can clamp it to a steel table and heat the joints until it does.

i did this a long time ago, this is what i remember.

[yd328]

Thanks for the info. Once I get working on them I'll post some pics. I'm stripping, welding cracks and painting the remaining four hood panels.

Gary

[yd328]

Steve,
Thanks for the tips, I finally got around to doing this and it worked out great. The heads were formed on a bench top grinding wheel. I started using a press to peen over the end of the newly made pin but the hammer worked out better. Mounting them to a plate and heating the hinge portion flatted them out nicely.





Gary

[Outsider]

Nice work!

Steve