I've put this in the 120 section as that's the vehicle being shown in this case but the same concept can be used to realign any door with bolt on hinges.
There are two separate issues that cause sagging rear doors on the Prado; one is cracking of the door shell along the vertical seam that runs near the hinges; the is an issue with the early door design and can also happen on later models that have had the door over extended when opening.
The second issue in the small plastic bushes in the hinges wear out and cause excessive free play in the hinge.
This Fix covers the latter issue of warn hinge bushings.
The whole process takes about 10 minutes and can be easily completed at home with basic hand tools.
The problem is easily identified by a door that drops visually when opened and a support striker that is misaligned.
Inspection of the hinges will usually also reveal that the plastic bushes have extruded out under the load on the hinge.
This piture clearly shows a support striker that is well out of alignment:
If you look closely at this picture you can see the plastic bush extruded out where the pin enters the bottom plates of the hinge:
This fix involves basically spacing out the bottom hinge from the door to take up the wear in the hinge.
You can do this two ways, one is to use a couple of washers to space the hinge out, or make up a spacer plate out of thin plate or shim material. In this case I’ve used washers and have done so on a few vehicles without issue, but it could be argued a shim plate would technically be a better solution as it would cover the whole contact area of the hinge.
The first step is to lock the door in its open position and support its weight. You can do this with any appropriately sized piece of timber and a jack.
There's no need to go crazy on the jack as you risk causing further damage to the door or metal work, you simply want to support the weight of the door and take some load off the bottom hinge.
Put a rag between the wood and panel if you are worried about damaging the paint.
Once the weight is off the hinge you can crack both bolts that hold the hinge to the door.
These are tight and space is a little limited, if you don’t have a low profile ratchet or strong bar then they can be cracked using two ring spanners that are locked together like this:
The bolts require a 12mm spanner.
Once cracked you can fully remove ONE of the bolts, leave the other in to hold the door in place for now.
As you can see in this picture the bolts have a 10mm thread but a 12mm shank. The next step is to find some 12mm washers to use as packers.
I started with a couple of Stainless steel ones which are thinner by a 3rd than normal mild steel washers. I found these not to be enough and later changes to a couple of zinc plate mild steel ones which were approximately 1.6mm thick.
The next step is to carefully start removing the second bolt until you have just enough space to insert a washer and re-install the removed bolt.
I suggest you do this carefully and don’t fully remove the second bolt!
Now it’s just a case of repeating the process for the other bolt:
The finished job should look like this:
As you can see I’ve chosen washers with a large outside diameter to provide maximum contact area.
Also make sure your choice of washer is Stainless, Zinc or Cad plate, not plain mild steel, to avoid corrosion issues.
A little trial and error with washer thickness may be required to get the ideal end result:
Spot on in this case:
All good for another 10 years, plus it saves $100 for one hinge from Toyota (Plus paint) which only last as long as the plastic bushings!
Also on a side note: I prefer a dry lube (aerosol dry moly) on the hinges, stickers and latch. Most workshops either use white grease, silicone spray spray Tac lube or alike, which tends to make a gritty paste when mixed with dirt and can accelerate wear, especially on the plastic support striker.
Mick
There are two separate issues that cause sagging rear doors on the Prado; one is cracking of the door shell along the vertical seam that runs near the hinges; the is an issue with the early door design and can also happen on later models that have had the door over extended when opening.
The second issue in the small plastic bushes in the hinges wear out and cause excessive free play in the hinge.
This Fix covers the latter issue of warn hinge bushings.
The whole process takes about 10 minutes and can be easily completed at home with basic hand tools.
The problem is easily identified by a door that drops visually when opened and a support striker that is misaligned.
Inspection of the hinges will usually also reveal that the plastic bushes have extruded out under the load on the hinge.
This piture clearly shows a support striker that is well out of alignment:
If you look closely at this picture you can see the plastic bush extruded out where the pin enters the bottom plates of the hinge:
This fix involves basically spacing out the bottom hinge from the door to take up the wear in the hinge.
You can do this two ways, one is to use a couple of washers to space the hinge out, or make up a spacer plate out of thin plate or shim material. In this case I’ve used washers and have done so on a few vehicles without issue, but it could be argued a shim plate would technically be a better solution as it would cover the whole contact area of the hinge.
The first step is to lock the door in its open position and support its weight. You can do this with any appropriately sized piece of timber and a jack.
There's no need to go crazy on the jack as you risk causing further damage to the door or metal work, you simply want to support the weight of the door and take some load off the bottom hinge.
Put a rag between the wood and panel if you are worried about damaging the paint.
Once the weight is off the hinge you can crack both bolts that hold the hinge to the door.
These are tight and space is a little limited, if you don’t have a low profile ratchet or strong bar then they can be cracked using two ring spanners that are locked together like this:
The bolts require a 12mm spanner.
Once cracked you can fully remove ONE of the bolts, leave the other in to hold the door in place for now.
As you can see in this picture the bolts have a 10mm thread but a 12mm shank. The next step is to find some 12mm washers to use as packers.
I started with a couple of Stainless steel ones which are thinner by a 3rd than normal mild steel washers. I found these not to be enough and later changes to a couple of zinc plate mild steel ones which were approximately 1.6mm thick.
The next step is to carefully start removing the second bolt until you have just enough space to insert a washer and re-install the removed bolt.
I suggest you do this carefully and don’t fully remove the second bolt!
Now it’s just a case of repeating the process for the other bolt:
The finished job should look like this:
As you can see I’ve chosen washers with a large outside diameter to provide maximum contact area.
Also make sure your choice of washer is Stainless, Zinc or Cad plate, not plain mild steel, to avoid corrosion issues.
A little trial and error with washer thickness may be required to get the ideal end result:
Spot on in this case:
All good for another 10 years, plus it saves $100 for one hinge from Toyota (Plus paint) which only last as long as the plastic bushings!
Also on a side note: I prefer a dry lube (aerosol dry moly) on the hinges, stickers and latch. Most workshops either use white grease, silicone spray spray Tac lube or alike, which tends to make a gritty paste when mixed with dirt and can accelerate wear, especially on the plastic support striker.
Mick
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