Not sure how many of you are rust-belters, but our '99 VE had been drooping at the lower hinge for some time and last week it finally broke. Toyota did some shade tree engineering on this part of the body. By that I mean they shot these huge rivet heads into the outer body panel inside the door area instead of using a threaded fastener of some sort. Then we get to the hinge pin set up. There's absolutely no way Toyota planned on having that hinge pin replaced separately but rather they want a new door assembly in there. That necessitates repainting the outside surface to match the rest of the body and is totally unnecessary IMHO.
This door assembly had to have had the pin installed before the spot welds were done to the inner/outer parts of the assembly.
Here's the work-around if your pin breaks/rusts up:
1. Drill out the big rivet heads so you can remove the hinge and the door assembly. I step drilled mine not knowing what was going on, but eventually it took a 5/16" bit to break things loose. The rivets on my 99 were aluminum, so the bit didn't get real hot during the drilling. Don't force things as you may have a vent line for the gas tank lurking behind that outer panel. Since 5/16" rivets are hard to come by at the local hardware store(and if you don't have a rivet gun to shoot any sized rivet, then this method of re-attaching the door hinge will save you a lot of money), opt for using a specialty fastener called a well nut.
2.Well nuts are hollow rubber cylinders with a shoulder on one end and a threaded brass nut on the other. By running a threaded machine screw of the proper size, length and thread pitch, these well nuts compress much like a pop rivet and hold very nicely. I suggest getting stainless steel machine screws for ease of future removal. I bought two of them with 5/16" outer diameters and maybe a 3/4" length. I think the thread size was a #8x24, but might've been a 32. Make sure you get the right screw thread pitch or they will cross thread and give you fits. I used 1" long screws as the as there was plenty of room behind the outer body panel for it. Also use some washers under the machine screw to gradually fill that 5/16" hole you made in the bracket. I think I used a #8, # 10 , and then a wide flange aluminum washer I had laying around the shop to finish up the fastening phase of the installation.
3. Another hint that Toyota didn't want this pin replaced is the fact that when you try to remove the broken/rusted old pin, it's path out the hinge holes will lead you right into the door lip on either top or bottom side. The solution for me was to take the Dremel tool and cut it off on each inboard side of the hinge and then take needle nose pliers and wrestle/tap gently until it works free. PB Blaster or equivalent may be needed to facilitate this. You'll also notice that the dogleg of the pin that hides under the frame at the bottom seems to have no way to come out besides grinding it out too. Make sure you mark which side of the plastic/ metal spring mechanism (wedged under the rod in the center) is installed so you can repeat that when putting in the new rod.
4. You have a couple of options for the replacement rod. My first thought was to use one of those steel rods that you wedge in to hold up household insulation in the attic and cut it to size, but it was too skinny. Regular 1/8" rod from the hardware store is just a hair to big in diameter for the hinge holes. 3mm machine screws fit in there really well, but are really hard to find in stainless, and the regular ones are kinda frail looking when installed. Finding one long enough to support the spring mechanism also kills that idea. I opted for the Ace Hardware 18" stainless steel rod which came in an 18" length for $2.50 and you need like half of that or less. Cut it to size and carefully bend your 90 degree dogleg in a vise or using a vise grip.
5. The final issue before reassembly is enlarging the hinge holes to work with the 1/8" rod. Getting a drill bit in there of 1/8" or 9/64's is possible but not easy, as the aforementioned lip can get in the way of drilling and since the hinge hole loops are not welded to the frame, it's possible to maybe spread them out a little with a drift. I ended up using some of each method to get it to work, but as you drill into this hole, the bit likes to hangup on the open edge and bend the crap out of the whole mess. I greased the rod and the hinge holes with a red wheel bearing synthetic grease and eventually got the rod through the first hinge half, then finagled the plastic spring the mix, and finally got the pin through the top half with some fancy and gently prying with the needle nose and small pry bar. Four hands are better than two for this procedure. Once the pin is in place, you have to decide how you want the dogleg to rest in there. I chose to replicate the factory set up as best I could by taking my carbide Dremel tool cutter and reaming out a groove for the pin to nestle in with and simply covered it up with duct tape. I can see a case made for JB Weld to hold it in, but I chose the shade tree method this time around.
6. Once that's done, insert the well nuts into the body panel holes and then hold the door assembly up to the body panel and run the screws in with washers installed, screw them down gradually until they're both in snugly, and check the door alignment and make sure the door latches and unlatches properly.
Here's a photo or two of the finished product.
YMMV
DM&FS
Notice the notch cut for the hnge pin dogleg
The finished product complete with Duct Tape!!
Linear Mode
