yeah, thats the tool that you need...i have one and have used it about 5 times since i bought it. worth the money, plus i am about to change my pins and bushings later today.

 

How often are you guys changing your pins and bushings? Seems like it's a common occurrence with blazers to replace the pins/bushings often.

My doors only sag a little bit, but they rattle and shake like crazy on bumpy roads, I figured it's the pins/bushings but I am hoping that fixes the issue.

After this I am going to try and get the back window from squeaking next.

 

mine flew out about 6 months ago, I haven't put one in knowing I will need to pull it again eventuslly for new pins!

 

After a fuel pressure gauge, the door spring compressor tool is the best tool a Blazer owner can own.

 

I have worn out bushing on 97 LT BLAZER , bought a set at Car Quest , the pins look correct , the bushing just cracked as I tried to install them so question is where can I get American made and not this , Made in China Crap ? indicated on the package .

 

Check the hole closely, it's probably egg shaped. If the door is used after the old bushing wears out or breaks it wears on the metal of the hinge itself and will egg the hole out. The bushing is a bushing and not meant to be very strong, just offer a wearing surface for the pin to rotate in. Once the weight of the door pushes on the bushing into the worn out part of the hole it will break the bushing. I have the exact same problem on my Jimmy. My plan is to drill a couple of 1/4" thick pieces of metal with 1/2" holes and weld them to the inside of the hinge bracket as a guide for the hole so I can use the welder to fill in where the hole has gotten worn out. It's a lot of work, but it's necessary since the previous owner let it wear like that. I would just replace the brackets but unfortunately they're spot welded onto the body of the truck and not easily replaceable.

 

there are also two different sized bushings. you gotta make sure that you are putting the right bushing in the right hole. i did a set a long time ago and put a huge amount of miles on the truck after that and never changed them again. as far as getting american made, good luck with that. if you do happen to find a set or someone/some where that sells them, please let us know!!!

 

I just did the pins and bushings on my '98 Jimmy. I used JB Weld to fill in the holes around the bushings. So far it has held up very well. I put the JB on the bushings before I installed them in the hinges and let them set up a little bit before installing the hinges and reassembling everything.

 

Thanks for the response, all of you. A lot of useful info. there , from the egg shape holes , the different size bushing = larger one for head of pin by the way and smaller one for the other end of pin, that was important one ,the JB weld idea I like a lot to fill around the bushing. I'll give it another go with all of the tips in mind and if I find a North American parts source anywhere , will share the info.

 

Got the spring tool and the pins/bushings this weekend, added it to my list of work to do next weekend.