How to Repair a Dragging Door

If your car door is dragging, its because at least the top hinge is bad. If not taken care of, this will eventually lead to damage to the lower hinge and other parts of the car. You need to replace the damaged hinges as soon as possible, whether you need to change the whole hinge or just the pin linking the two pieces together. It's best to let a professional body shop take care of this if at all possible.

Instructions

Preparation

1

Open the door and confirm if one or both of the hinges is bent, warped or otherwise damaged. If only the top hinge is a problem, you don't have to remove both hinges and can skip steps 3 and 4.

2

Brace the door while it is open. You'll need at least a block or jack stand under the door, placing towels on the stand to protect the paint job. You also can support the door with a long chain strung from an exposed ceiling joist, but you may have to settle for a second person holding the door.

3

Disconnect the door's inner trim panel. Pry off all smaller trim panels with a trim stick, remove the power controls with the same stick or unclip the window crank with a hooked tool, unscrew the mounting screws, pry the panel off its clips and lift the panel off.

4

Disconnect all electrical connectors within the door and route them out the door through one of the access holes. This is needed to prevent the wires from getting damaged should the door accidentally fall.

Repairing the Door

5

Mark the borders of the hinges along the door and the body side so you know where the hinges fit on the door. Use a pen or a scribe.

6

Drive the hinge pins out of the hinges if they are the cause of the problem. Use a punch and hammer on the "pointed" ends of the pins; this should be the bottom end of the pin on the upper hinge and the top end on the lower hinge.

7

Unbolt and remove the hinges with a wrench, making sure your assistant has a firm grip on the door--especially if you're removing both hinges. Some vehicles have the hinges welded on or connected in some other way besides bolts. Only an expert mechanic should work on those hinges.

8

Fasten the new hinge(s) in place, installing them in the same location with the scribe marks as a guide. Use any new bolts that come with the replacement hinge(s) if they come with them.

9

Drive new hinge bolts into the hinges if needed, driving then so they point in the same direction as the previous hinges.

10

Reconnect all the wires and the trim panel in the reverse order that you removed everything.

11

Check the door's level. The top edge should align with he top edge of the fenders, and there should be no more than 1/16" of movement when shaking the door up and down.