Hi all, my wife's '03 blazer (4wd/v6/116k miles) has an very loud creaky driver's door hinge and looking around this forum I found this problem listed in the "annoying problems" thread.

One poster labeled it as: "Driver side door hinge bushings (had a body shop fix it for $100)." Is this the best option to get it fixed? when our neighbor borrowed this car some time ago (about two years ago), he greased the hinge to make it quiet, but that obviously was not a real fix, just a band-aid. It has recently gotten louder.

It's only the driver's door. All the others are fine. Well, except having to "slam" the rear hatch and window closed to make darn sure the "Gate Ajar" idiot light is not on on the dash - otherwise the battery will die rather quickly from whatever is drawing the power when that light is lit.

Thanks in advance to all for any helpful responses.
Chuck

 

mine does it when it rains or I go through mud holes. spray some wd40 on it that gets rid of it untill it gets wet again

 

Yeah, just soak it in WD40 and it should be good to go.

 

Keep it well greased, which is why the bushings wear out in the first place, once the door starts sagging you can tell because the body lines don't line up anymore and the door has to lift to go onto the latch, so if your door rises up when you close it your hinges are worn out. Fix it now with the kit which can be bought online or auto parts store or your hinges will get so worn that it will be a lot more than $100 to fix.

 

David, you rock man! Thank you! I never even thought to look up something like a kit for this problem. Is this what I'm looking for? ---> http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tchlink:top:en


Thanks a million again,
Chuck

 

Yep! That's it.

 

Probably harder than this video makes it seem. I have not done, by the time I had mine fixed it was beyond the repair kit as it had worn through the bushings and into the hinge metal and due to door opening and closing hard had started to break the hinge mount welds to the body and the door, get a pin kit put in before it gets that bad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvsIHQJIuxY

 

Thanks again David. I just watched the video, then went out and toyed around with the driver's side door and there is absolutely no play whatsoever, so I'm not so sure if this kit would help much. I was carefully and very slowly opening and closing the door right where the sound happens. It is in pretty much two spots actually, right about the middle of open/close position and almost closed. The bottom bushing of the top hinge looks slightly worn out, but the rest, oddly enough, look okay. I've attached two photos I just took a minute ago of it. One of the whole assembly, which you can barely see the slightly worn out bottom bushing, and one cropped of just the little three position notched piece that holds the door in its given degrees of openness.

The hinge is wet in the photos right now because I squirted just a little bit of wd-40 on it to see if that specific spot would make a difference or not. It did make a very little bit of difference, but not much. The most creaking happens right when the middle bump is rubbing on the "collar", which also turns a little on the hinge pin, but that collar sits still right at the point of where and when that middle bump rubs. THAT right there is when the loudest creaking occurs. It also creaks a bit when the bump closest to the inside of the door touches that collar - just before the door is closed.

Please let me know what you think. I look forward to the education.

Thanks in advance!
Chuck

 

WD40 is a solvent not a lubricant, it actually cleans off dried lubricant and helps to break free things that get rusty together.

I would drench the squeaking area with a bicycle chain lube spray or white lithium grease spray. Make sure you get it worked into the actual bushing pivot points on your picture it looks like you put it on the surface of the roller, the squeak is probably coming between the ID of the roller and the shaft it turns on, get some grease in there.

 

right on, will do that today.
Thank you very much again David, I sure do appreciate the help and insight.