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MadaboutKitcars

This is a read-only archive of the old Madabout Kitcars forum. New posts and replies are no longer possible, but every thread is still here to browse and read.

Door Hinges

15 Nov 2007, 9:09am
I have the old style door hinges using two 8mm socket head bolts as the hinge pins.

The problem is that there is some play in the hinges. By the time this is magnified by the length of the door it means the end of the door can move up and down by about 6mm.

I have tried replacing the Marlin supplied bolts with bolts that have a longer shank so at least the hinge is pivoting on the shank and not the thread. That has improved matters slightly. But not a lot.

Any suggestions? Perhaps I should try and get the later style hinges from Marlin - but when I spoke to Mark he was his normal co-oporative self and couldn't see what the problem was....

Robin
15 Nov 2007, 10:47pm
Hi Robin,
when I collected my doors, I commented on the new hinges. Apparantly they are stainless steel fire door hinges but they are still a bit sloppy.
I think it was Kevin that said the old hinges needed fitting with (phospher bronze?) bushes.
Perhaps you could just use some chopped down big door hinges as the Marlin ones are not much more than this?
I can take some more close up photo's of the Marlin supplied hinges if that would help.
Try searching "Stainless hinges" on eBay.... and you get quite a selection.

Peter
16 Nov 2007, 3:14pm
I went through this one when I fitted the doors, there only one word for the hinges at it starts with c and ends with a p.

I am yet to find a suitable replacement so if you see anything please post as I would be very interested.

Right now I have to lift my doors into place rather than just close them, not very elegant! :)
19 Nov 2007, 11:38am
With my doors I found the that they did not clear the sill at the far end by a few mm, even with play in the hinges taken into account. I discovered that the bracket the hinges were welded on to was not level, and did a fine adjusted with a large hammer (avoiding welds). This appears to have worked as the doors now clear the sill.
19 Nov 2007, 1:16pm
Patrick wrote:
I am yet to find a suitable replacement so if you see anything please post as I would be very interested.:)


Hi Patrick. I replaced the bolts in mine with bolts where the whole of the hinge surface runs on the bolt shank - not the thread as in the ones supplied by Marlin. The threaded part of the bolt is slightly smaller in diameter than the shank and hence allows more play in the hinge. The hinge is better now - but not perfect...