Rubber Hinge replacement

[rdbishop]

Hi Guys,

Can someone tell me the best way to replace the rubber hinge on the battery compartment door on a 01 Eagle?

Richard

[gus]

Do a search, this subject has been beat to death many times in the recent past.

[rdbishop]

Thanks for the good info gus.

I did a search and got zipp. Could someone who knows how to help me out.

Richard

[bobofthenorth]

For my Prevost hinges - which I assume are similar:
- do a good job of cleaning out the old material from the track
- drag one side of the hinge into the track, lube the track with dish soap if necessary
- put a couple of little stainless screws through the track to lock the hinge in place
- make sure the track on the door is well cleaned out and lubed too
- fight with it

One of my doors went on easily - did that one alone.  One required a come-along to pull it into place and for the last one we used the come-along but probably wouldn't have had to.  If you need to put a heavy duty pull on it what I found worked well was to use a big C-clamp attached to the door frame and hook the come-along to that.  The little SS screws are really important - without them the hinge will try to move in the track and bunch up where you don't want it.

Good luck

[luvrbus]

Richard, are you talking about 1 of the baggage doors (4 on each side) I am having a problem with what you are calling the battery compartment door can you give us a little more info and I will try and help you 

good luck

[rdbishop]

Hi Clifford,

It's the 4 th baggage door on the drivers side . Do you get the rubber into the top through the little slot on the body part and then slide the door on.

Richard

[luvrbus]

Yes,Richard that is the way I do it.Go buy you a stick of 3/16 wood dowel and split the end about 1 inch and put a piece of emery cloth or sand paper in the slot and use your cordless drill to turn the dowel like a drill bit to clean the groves good then use vegetable oil or tire soap on the rubber I prefer tire soap it can be bought at NAPA
 Those doors are heavy you need help it makes for a easier job.See you in Breaux Bridge   good luck

[rdbishop]

Thanks Clifford,

My MCI was alot easier. That little slot in the center of the body means you have to slide half the rubber to the left and then the other half to the right and then slide the door on. Is that right?

Richard

[Lin]

I have had good luck on my MCI with changing hinges.  First, if you have air springs on the door, disconnect them.  Then I closed and latched the door.  Next cut the hinge between the door and the rail.  My door stayed in place and the rubber in the groove slipped out nicely.  Otherwise, cut it with a razor knife and pulled out the pieces.  Remove the rail and do the same.  It is, as mentioned, essential that the channels be really clean.  One time I only needed a wire brush, and once I used a Dremel with a wire wheel going up and down the channel.  Use soap to lube it.  Do not use something like WD-40.  That will only make it worse.  Since the door is only latched at the bottom, it will be leaning out a bit.  You can thread the hinge into the door channel and then slide the rail in on the other end of the hinge.  Screw the rail back in place, reattach the air springs, and you're done.  The door need not even come off the bus.

DISCLAIMER:  This worked on my MCI, and I may have just had great luck that the rubber went in and out easily.  Eagle hinges are probably a bit different.  From past experience with a former bus, if you get a deep nick or scratch in the rubber, it may start to tear at that point soon.  It you get a tear in the rubber, it will grow.  I did once try this without removing the air springs, and there was no way to push the door/rail back into place or even open the door to remove the springs.  I had to use a combination of prayer and contortion to get them off and finish the job.  Further, if you do have air springs, this would be a good time to make sure that they are located in such a way the they hold the door open but are not pushing on the door beyond that.  Air springs are the enemy of rubber hinges, especially if they are too tight.

[Dreamscape]

Richard,

I replaced mine by myself using a ladder to hold it up. Two people, like Clifford said is much easier and safer. Don't forget to replace the two screws on each end that help hold the rubber in place so it doesn't slide after it's installed. I was lucky and the old rubber came out clean. I bought new rubber for all doors from Norris at Jefferson, just have only had to do one so far. Will try and replace a couple more before the rally.

See you at Breaux Bridge!

~Paul~

[rdbishop]

Thanks Guys,

Going to give it a try this morning. We'll see you at Breaux Bridge.

Richard

[FloridaCliff]

Richard,
 Don't forget to replace the two screws on each end that help hold the rubber in place so it doesn't slide after it's installed.
~Paul~

Richard,

Only one thing to add.  Make sure you use the same size screw on the ends if you should drop or lose one.

I just ended up re-placing one that I used a slightly oversized (one size up) screw on one end.

I wouldn't have thought it would have made a difference , but caused the hinge (rubber) to seperate.

This also held true on a few others.  They were all several years old, but only saw cracking by the oversized ones.

YMMV

Cliff

[Singing Land Cruiser]

Friday, March 27, 2009
New Hinge for the Battery Door
 
The battery door hinge had the original rubber hinge on it that had failed. I asked around for a new hinge but thought to myself. Hey, I got parts. I looked through the ever growing pile and, Eureka! Stainless hinge. Found it on one of the inside storage compartment doors. I drilled out the rivets. Salvage! I removed the old hinge hardware rivets with a grinder. When I put the door in place we found there was a 3/4-inch gap/void between the top of the door and the frame. We have a piece of angle iron. I have an old bed frame in the garage that should do the trick. We cut it to size and screwed it in place. Then we set the door in place, marked and pre-drilled the fastner holes. Set the door in place and wedge it up to the correct plane. We then applied screws. Wow, thats nice. No more tape holding the door on.
All the Best, Michael & Christi    See our blog; http://singinglandcruiser.blogspot.com/  then click on side barr; New Hinge for the Battery Door , for step by step pics  Good Luck

[gus]

RD,

Sorry about that. After I read my post it is a bit abrupt.

I knew there were at least a hundred posts on this subject and assumed the search would show this since you didn't mention searching.

I tried Search and came up with only today's posts?? Strange. Then I went to my profile and Searched again and came up with four pages?? Go figure? I assume that will work on any profile.

Anyway, here is an update of one of my posts I copied from the search.

"It is easiest to cut the old hinges out after removing the screws, they then should pull right out. After removing the old hinge clean out both grooves with a round wire brush until you can pull the hinge through the groove with little effort.
 
Use dish washing detergent mixed with water and brush a lot on the groove and hinge. This dries out and will not harm the hinge. Keep it wet while inserting the hinge.

Then fasten the hinge to the bus with the screws and slide the door onto the bus hinge. Be sure to have the door at an angle that keeps the hinge from bending.

Your smaller door shouldn't be hard for one person to handle. I've done the large doors on my 4104 alone by using this method and supporting the door on a shop stool riding on a garden wagon.  I just get the hinge started, pull the wagon along and guide the hinge into the groove."

[luvrbus]

Richard, you do not use dish soap on a Eagle hinge use only vegetable oil or vegetable base soap like the tire soap they are not made of the same materail as the GMC or MCI that's why they last for 30 or 40 years   lol  good luck

[NJT5047]

FWIW, another good lubricant is wire pull lube.  It's slick, won't dry out rapidly like soap.  It's the stuff used to pull wire thru conduit.  Really slimes things up. 
JR

[David Anderson]

I wanted to bounce this to the top as I used the thread to help me replace my eagle bay door rubber hinges.  It has the best information in the searches for baggage door hinges, so it's good technical archive material.
 
 Man, this was a job, harder than replacing the driver's windshield

I bought the rubber from IBP in Florida.  I made me a rack to hold the door in position.  I removed the hardware and screws in each end of the rubber on the door and the bus bay, then cut the rubber and removed the door.  That is where the fun began.  I cut, sliced, picked, and finally used an angle grinder to get the rubber out.  It took me over 2 hours per door to get the rubber out.  It vulcanizes itself to the aluminum.  I used dremel wheels and sandpaper to polish it up.  I had good success by folding a drill bit into the sandpaper to run through the slot. 

A strong suggestion:  cut you a piece of the hinge about 1.5" long.  When you can slide it through both tracks DRY it is clean enough to get the whole hinge in with veggie oil.  I put it on the bus first feeding it from the open slot  track center  pulling it in left side then right side.  I pulled it through and cut off any excess.  PUT THE SCREWS IN. 

I had to have a friend help with the door.  We dragged the homebrew rack with the door over to the edge of the door opening at the rubber end, oiled it up and it slid on.  It took some time and a few retries.  Each door install had its own set of issues.  The last one we had to reverse the install and go from back to front because the rubber kept pulling out of the screws for some reason.

It took about 3 hours for each door.  I only had to do the curbside.  I've been ignoring this for 2 years because I've been dreading it, but they were tearing more and more. 

David