Oklahoma Vw Cruisers

My 1972 bug drivers side door drops when I open it. When I go to close it you have to lift it to get it to close right or slam the s*&! out of it. What can I do to tighten up the hinge or adjust it?

There are three places it could come loose. The easiest to fix would be the big #4 Phillps screws that go into the A pillar; that ones you take out to remove the door. Less fun would be the spot welds where the hinge attaches to the door. These sometimes crack and need rewelded. The most difficult thing (imo) to fix is a worn out hinge pin and barrel. They make oversized door pins, but the barrel is usually ovaled out and they don't fit perfectly. Getting the old pin out is difficult because you have to press it out and there's this big door thing getting in the way. Someone makes a C-clamp looking thing for this job, but its spendy. I drilled out the barrel of the hinge to a greater oversize, then pressed in bronze bearings which I then reamed out to fit a standard diameter door hinge. Super overkill for a car that has been in the rain only once since then.

Simpler?
Is the striker plate aligned?

Simpler?
Is the striker plate aligned?

Striker is aligned. If you close it to the striker plate you can see it is a little down. When you lift up and close it it closes and seals perfectly.

Luke the screws are thight and the welds look good. When you lift up on the door you can see the hinge wiggle at the barrel (both) so i guess it is your worst case senerio. Does anyone have a hinge removal tool I can borrow, rent or know where I can get one?

cannot remove hinges, they are one with the door.

I would say, get a piece of 2x4, put it on the bottom of the door and floor jack the door up, till the car nearly lifts up alot on one side, then let it down. hows it close then?

Here's a link I found showng a hinge pin tool. http://www.busandcamper.com/hinge-pin-removal-tool.html Less elegant tools can be made with a C Clamp that has a tube welded to the swivel foot and a short bolt on the other side to push the pin out.

I saw that tool. I believe that is the one that Larry has. It cost about $300 if you could find one. I saw one with C-clamp also would that be strong enough? I found a drawing of one if anyone knows a machine shop that would fabricate it for me. $100's are too much for one time deal.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw//forum/album ... _id=266821

Got the tool machined. It works great. Attached is a photo of the door off and the tool attached, in use.

Got the reamer and reimed the hinges for the new oversize pins. I went ahead and got the #2 pins figured if I go the #1's then I would have to go ahead and get the #2's anyway as worn as they were. I have attached photos one of the reimer in use and the door after adjustment. It aligned perfectly.

nice!