MOPAR Leo has retired. Door hinge rebuild information.

[cruiser]

I just heard back from MOPAR Leo (the famous high quality door hinge rebuilder) that he is officially retired. I contacted him yesterday to inquire about rebuilding the hinges on my 1974 Duster. So that leaves the hobby without a really good rebuilding service, sadly. Now the options are few - probably just try to do the rebuild yourself with a Dorman kit, although I would probably goof it up. In any case, just wanted to put the word out that Leo is no longer doing rebuilds if you're thinking about contacting him. Seems like a really nice fella, too bad we lost his service.

 

[Heywodja]

Dang, I have a set I was holding onto so he could recover from a recent health issue. I wish him well in his retirement. @MoparLeo

 

[Dartswinger70]

I had restored mine years ago with the Dorman kit , I do not recall it being difficult maybe time consuming as I had disassembled the hinges ,drilled for the bushing, glass beaded primed and painted them. i do think if someone got into doing them the process would get quicker its mostly waiting for the paint to dry really.

 

[CFD244]

@RAT ROD AL Might be a good side hustle for you Al. Would compliment your control arm re-furbing.

There's this too POOR MAN'S HINGE REPAIR

 

[Dartswinger70]

A body hood hinges need rebuilding too they blow the metal out on the hood when they go bad.

 

[Darter6]

Nice guy Leo. Bought from him over the years. Best wishes.

 

[mopowers]

That's too bad. I've heard really good things about his work. Good for him for retiring though.

The restorick kit is a decent option: Restorations by Rick Kreuziger - Product and Component Restoration Detailed Information

It's worked great on the couple I've done. The only couple of issues I've run into is when the roller pins are worn, but those are easy enough to remake if you get creative. Plus, it looks like restorick even sells those now.

Also, if you've got to do any repairs to the hinge body themselves. I had one that needed a touch of weld and a little grinding. No biggie though.

Aren't they even reproducing these hinges these days? I wonder how good those are.

 

[toolmanmike]

Congrats on your retirement Leo.

 

[MoparLeo]

Thanks, feel sorry for the hole I left in the Hobby.

My advice is to avoid "pin and bushing" kits like the PLAGUE !! They cause you to destroy good parts..
The factory did not design the lower hinges to accept a bushing so it will not fit without you having to cause irreversible damage to the door side part of the hinge. Wonder why they just come in a bag with no instructions ?
These are not factory designed parts but common size bushings and used in the upper hinges and also universal sized pins.

I would recommend RestoRick to be the next best out there. He does use proper oversized pins but if you buy his kit, he will ship with a double oversized pin to be sure it fits. Problem is that a lot of extra pin support metal is removed for most hinges because most don't need that big of a pin. Like boring your cylinders and extra .010 that they didn't need.

A 3/8 diameter, hardened pin works on most worn lower hinges. Drill to 23/32 and ream to .375 .

Can't help you on the door stop pins, My parts supplier was the mfg of this part and has closed shop.

I can be reached for info by PM here.

I have reprints of the Factory Service Manual pages covering removal and reinstallation of the front door hinges for A,B and E -body cars..

Below, pictures on theft of pin and bushing repairs. 3rd picture to the right, a proper oversized pin replacement

Thanks for everyone's business and kind words of support over the years.
MoparLeo

 

[cruiser]

Leo: Again, many thanks for your service to our hobby over the years. Everyone gets to retire - including you! Thought I'd forward the following to you (and everyone else). I just got off the phone with a superbly experienced bodywork guy who is also retiring now at the age of 70. In any case, I told him about the vertical play that I can feel when I grab the rear end of the driver's door on my 1974 Duster. Seems like roughly 1/8" of vertical play. The passenger door has zero play. In any case, he mentioned the old trick of making a metal shim to place between the door and the lower hinge face. This would presumably lift the back end of the door vertically to close out any elongation of the hole that the pin passes through and get rid of any play. So lo and behold, I discovered that some previous owner of the car had already been in there monkeying with the hinge by shimming it with washers (see photos). The skinny washer is on the top and the fat one is on the bottom. So since it has already been shimmed, I'm thinking that my best bet right now is to simply buy a complete lower hinge from AMD, Year One, or any of the other large suppliers. I'm sure all their hinges come from the same Taiwanese supplier. Looks like a pretty straightforward one for one remove and replace job, with some adjusting afterward. What's your professional opinion of this approach? I don't think shimming my old hinge is going to work.

 

[RustyRatRod]

Thanks, feel sorry for the hole I left in the Hobby.

My advice is to avoid "pin and bushing" kits like the PLAGUE !! They cause you to destroy good parts..
The factory did not design the lower hinges to accept a bushing so it will not fit without you having to cause irreversible damage to the door side part of the hinge. Wonder why they just come in a bag with no instructions ?
These are not factory designed parts but common size bushings and used in the upper hinges and also universal sized pins.

I would recommend RestoRick to be the next best out there. He does use proper oversized pins but if you buy his kit, he will ship with a double oversized pin to be sure it fits. Problem is that a lot of extra pin support metal is removed for most hinges because most don't need that big of a pin. Like boring your cylinders and extra .010 that they didn't need.

A 3/8 diameter, hardened pin works on most worn lower hinges. Drill to 23/32 and ream to .375 .

Can't help you on the door stop pins, My parts supplier was the mfg of this part and has closed shop.

I can be reached for info by PM here.

I have reprints of the Factory Service Manual pages covering removal and reinstallation of the front door hinges for A,B and E -body cars..

Below, pictures on theft of pin and bushing repairs. 3rd picture to the right, a proper oversized pin replacement

Thanks for everyone's business and kind words of support over the years.
MoparLeo

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View attachment 1716499604

I wonder if you might be willing to work up a how to rebuild hinge article and post it? I understand if you don't want to.

Congrtulations on your retirement, though!

 

[toolmanmike]

I had restored mine years ago with the Dorman kit , I do not recall it being difficult maybe time consuming as I had disassembled the hinges ,drilled for the bushing, glass beaded primed and painted them. i do think if someone got into doing them the process would get quicker its mostly waiting for the paint to dry really.

Thanks for the heads up. His craftsmanship will be missed but in the next post, he shares some of his tricks.

Thanks, feel sorry for the hole I left in the Hobby.

My advice is to avoid "pin and bushing" kits like the PLAGUE !! They cause you to destroy good parts..
The factory did not design the lower hinges to accept a bushing so it will not fit without you having to cause irreversible damage to the door side part of the hinge. Wonder why they just come in a bag with no instructions ?
These are not factory designed parts but common size bushings and used in the upper hinges and also universal sized pins.

I would recommend RestoRick to be the next best out there. He does use proper oversized pins but if you buy his kit, he will ship with a double oversized pin to be sure it fits. Problem is that a lot of extra pin support metal is removed for most hinges because most don't need that big of a pin. Like boring your cylinders and extra .010 that they didn't need.

A 3/8 diameter, hardened pin works on most worn lower hinges. Drill to 23/32 and ream to .375 .

Can't help you on the door stop pins, My parts supplier was the mfg of this part and has closed shop.

I can be reached for info by PM here.

I have reprints of the Factory Service Manual pages covering removal and reinstallation of the front door hinges for A,B and E -body cars..

Below, pictures on theft of pin and bushing repairs. 3rd picture to the right, a proper oversized pin replacement

Thanks for everyone's business and kind words of support over the years.
MoparLeo

View attachment 1716499597

View attachment 1716499603

View attachment 1716499604

Thanks for your reply Leo. Enjoy your retirrment amd thanks for your craftsmanship and your tips and tricks. I made this thread a sticky so the information will be easy to find.