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You are here: Home / The Daily Pose / GMC Motorhome, Lower door hinge repair

June 8, 2017

GMC Motorhome, Lower door hinge repair

Along with some other stuff for today, I thought I could safely answer some questions having to do with something everyone with a GMC should check out and is currently a thread on Facebook.

Open your entry door 90% to the coach body and lift up at the outside corner…… is there movement at the lower hinge? Come in  If there’s no movement great, go get a beer cause you’re done.  I find though having a 1/4″ steel hinge bolted to a thin wall, square channel frame of the door seems to cause issues on the lower hinge.  Even if yours is tight, look between the 2 bolts going into the door and see if there is a crack in the aluminum from one to the other bolt.  If so it’s started.  Many times you find movement from the lower hinge to the door.  Checking the bolts they are tight…. what gives?  Dan-door-hinge-3

Here is a cross section of the door frame, you can see the problem Door-section-out  Some try and fix it with a plate on the outside and grind the bolt heads down to clear Bobs-door-7 You can see though that the plate too is slowly bending in.  If you want to do it right you may damage the exterior finish using this process so we only do this in an exterior refinish process:

First unbolt and cut away the damaged section of square channel  Door-section-out-3  Weld inside the square channel a thicker aluminum plate for mounting the bolts  Hinge-repair-1  Then grind the face smooth where the bolts will lay flat and painting the jam will look good  Hinge-repair-2  At the same time, I would replace the original plastic hinge pin bushings with new bronze, iolite bushings.  The door will have drummed on the hinge from these worn out bushings Door-old-bushings  The new bronze bushings are short money and make a big difference  Door-new-bushings   Door-new-bushings-4 You may find it easy to R&R these bushings by supporting the door and take one hinge at a time off using a press to push the hinge pin in and out.  When it’s all done, how bout trimming the hinge out with these new hinge gaskets, again short cash for a nice, finished look door-hinge-gasket  This is a weak point on our coach and man, don’t leave the door open and hit a pole!  OUCH! lower hinge damage 3  OK so that’s how to fix a damaged lower door hinge…… yes, you can rig it but this actually fixes it. 

When “Facebook” first came out I saw it as a great way to communicate to many people on a daily basis… and it is.  But folks started asking some really good questions that deserved more than a 144 letter explaination also some folks would throw things up that really needed more “vetting” as our politicians call it.  I go up there to try and untangle a mess someone train wrecks and came off like hogging the thread or killing someones enthusiasm for something he was doing.  See, that’s not fair and it’s not the reason Facebook was formed so I feel to communicate more completely answers to these good questions that between “Motorhome Rehab Ranch, tips on the Co-op web site and stuff here… I feel I have a better platform for the way I approach things.

A good example, a guy was broken down…. motor won’t start.  Suggestings were coming back from all over the place.  Guys always….. question 1:  Does the motor turn over?…….. 2  Look down the carb and mash the gas, do you have fuel squirting?,,,,,,  Pull a plug, hold the wire close to metal and see if you have spark.  If you have fuel, spark and there’s not a piston sticking out the block, the motor will start…… period.  If it won’t turn over then shoot that.  The diagnostic tree on coaxing these 40 year old motors to fire isn’t that big a deal.  I can say all that here but no room on Facebook and the post would probably get lost in the other 50 people trying to help but missing the point.

Yep, this works for me so between the stuff coming I’ll throw in some current thread information here ……. I just feel it helps Facebook and the GMCnet flow better.  Please post me any input you would like me to discuss on comments on this page… I’m actually starting to read those comments more.

Hey, how bout a subject for Motorhome Rehab Ranch videos……. that’s a great way to do it.

This morning more are chimming up on installing the new self learning FiTech fuel injection systems.  Yes, I feel as time goes on it will become more of a standard than an option.  The system fits better todays fuels and really helps keep the motor at it’s best performance.   With the basic systems available from Summit for under $1000, this is the first low cost, simple to install, stable fuel delivery platform  FiTech 26  Still haven’t got together an install manual for the 455 motor yet but I do have a video on Patreon.com “Motorhome Rehab Ranch”, you can watch that.  We have orders for 4 more installs on coaches here at the shop and I see only more for the future.  See, another way I can promote something without sounding like I’m hogging a thread…. let me know your thoughts on this.

OK, it’s a rainy day here in Orlando, We’re on Savory Brown during our low labor vacation timr.  The wet wand and buff is coming out nice 6.8.17 morning 3  The 28′ stretch we had here for sale took out yesterday….. good trails man  6.8.17 morning 1Man that was a good deal!  Mr. Clean also sold  Bob for sale 4  The only thing it needed was an outer CV boot and fresh Firestone tires so I’m truing those puppies up today  6.8.17 morning 2

It’s amazing we’ve helped all these coaches change hands in the past few weeks….. here and I say we don’t sell coaches… 

2.8.17 28 stretch 1 2.8.17 Sequoia 1 2.8.17 Diesel 2  Bob for sale 5  with interest on these

2.8.17 twin bed 1  2.8.17 Eleganza 1  2.8.17 rear bath 1  we must be doing something right!  We have a couple coming in from Pensacola this morning….. it’s the time of the year to buy I guess….

Things are under way…. life is good and the beat goes on….. thanks for stopping by, hope to see ya tomorrow……  Standing on weld wheel

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Article by jimbounds / The Daily Pose

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