I'm not sure if this is related to that fact that my car is a convertible. My doors, especially the driver door don't close correctly. I have to pull the driver door harder and if I don't it doesn't close correctly. There are a few scrapes where the door meets the body (nothing major) and also a rattle that lead me to believe the door needs to be raised.

Could this be defective hinges?

I don't want to tear into it until I feel like I've got a good plan for what to do.

Any personal experiences are appreciated.

Mike

 

I have a similar problem on my 93. Mainly on the passenger side. When the door closes there is about a 1/4" gap at the top of the door. You push the top in and it will go flush with the body, but it won't stay there. I hope someone does answer his tread since I can't think of anything.

 

If the hinges aren't damaged or loose, then you probably just need new hinge pins & bushings. I have the same problem on my girly's ride, but haven't gotten around to fixing it yet. On her ride you need to cut the pins off to remove them, then press out the old bushings and press in the new ones then slide the new pin through... Relatively straight forward, but cutting the pins of can be a PITA. In my girly's case, the only access to the pins is from the back side of the hinge which means I need to remove the fender to gain access. Not something I'm looking forward to.

Hopefully someone else has a better solution to removing the pins...

 

Helped my friend replace his pins and bushings on a trailblazer couple weeks ago. Biggest thing was getting the old pins cut. Had to use a saws-all to cut them and then the bushings came out with a little bit of hammer motivation. Putting the new pins in was pretty easy. I haven't had a chance to look on my car, but if they put that top pin in upside down like the chevy's then the only way to get it out seems to be cutting it.

 

Did it fix the problem in the trailblazer?

 

Yes it did. We could tell that the bushings were the problem before we even got them out, because of a crack that was visible. He probably could have gotten away with only replacing the bottom, but we already had the parts for both.

 

Hammer and a chisel , knock the head off the pin , then clamp a pair of needle nose vice grips on the pin , while holding the vice grips tap them with the hammer as close to the pin as possible . Make sure you have the door supported well , i use a floor jack and a block of wood . (and a friend or two wouldn't hurt) Good luck !

 

I'd be worried about damaging/bending the hinges if I used a hammer and chisel to pop the head of the pin. While I haven't done it yet (pins are on order), I plan on using a drill to remove the head of the pin (like drilling out a rivet). A lot less force applied to the hinges and possibly quicker.