door hinges

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

Removing the hinge from the door in order to repair it is not necessary though dealing with maneuvering the entire door around the shop is a pain. And of course if you want to repaint the entire hinge including the back, then removal is necessary. I have brazed new material made from drilled AN-3 bolts.

[DaveF]

Removing the hinge from the door in order to repair it is not necessary though dealing with maneuvering the entire door around the shop is a pain. And of course if you want to repaint the entire hinge including the back, then removal is necessary. I have brazed new material made from drilled AN-3 bolts.

I suggested it, but he wouldn't weld the hinge while it was on the door. Removing the hinge did allow me to clean it up, remove rust, and prime the back side. So it wasn't all wasted effort.

[cfzxo]

Hi, I have found that the easiest way to repair the top hinge( which is on the door) if the tabs are broken off is to buy piano hinge from aircraft spruce part no.
03-00052-6. This is if you do not have the resources to drill and weld on the parts that have broken off. I will try to describe the process without the aid of pictures. 1. remove door and place on work bench. 2. cut off the old part of the hinge that held the pin so that it is nice and square with the other half of the hinge which is it is sandwiched by rivets. 3. Drill out the two rivets (nearest the pin location) and spread the hinge slightly so it will accept the piano hinge that will be placed there. 4. Cut off a piece of the extruded piano hinge to match the hinge that is on the fuselage. the offset of the piano hinge is the same dimension as the old part that was cut off. 5. Slip this piece between the two parts that was spread earlier and reinstall the door and replacing bottom and upper pins. 6. wedge the door up slightly at opposite side so that the spacing around is even. 7. now you can drill through the piano hinge using the existing holes as a guide. 8. remove door and rivet it together. I have noticed that the extruded piano hinge has a flat side and a slight offset, so place the flat side out when sandwiching together, this will give you near perfect alignment. I did this repair 15+ years ago and it is still strong, did the other door 3 years ago and still have most of the 12 inches of hinge from Spruce left. I hope this makes sense If not sometime I can take a picture of the finished repair.

[ghostflyer]

Many years ago I was learning to fly a new Cessna 172 it had the new 160 hp lycoming in it [WOW]. We were doing circuits and the most of the circuit was over mud flats that the sea covered this at high tide. The instructor leaned over and as he flicked the door handle and said, "This is what happens when a door opens in flight" Now close it. As I go to grab the door handle there is a bang and the top door hinge gives way and then the bottom door hinge breaks. Door GONE. I look down and all I see is the sea and mud flats. I feel very vulnerable and scarred. The rush of air and noise was out of this world.
The instructor , I think he had a more scarred look than I did. The door missed the tail plane . He landed the plane 'sort of '. Some very knowledgeable committee member had replaced the door hinge pins with silver solder rods thinking he had picked up some brazing rod . This was to save the door hinges wearing out too quickly. We have some geniuses in our midst. He had put seat covers on the seats and mats on the floor also . The door had fluttered down and no real damage to the door . AND yes that very intellectual committee member did go out and retrieve that door. However every time I took a aircraft out , reception asked me do I want the door on or off. Some joke.