So I recently bought an '08 JKU and want to take the doors off. I was able to get the passenger door off easily. The driver door on the other hand will not budge.

Every single hinge pin on the Jeep spins freely with the hinge attached to the door, except the top hinge pin on the driver door. That pin does not spin with the door making me think it's somehow seized to the hinge attached to the body. There is a gap in the paint between the top of the pin and the hinge from where the paint cracked due to not spinning with the door. I can get a video posted to youtube if this description doesn't make sense.

I tried lifting with 2, even 3 full grown men to no avail. I tried using a floor jack with a 2x4.. also a no-go. I'm not really sure what to do at this point. I don't want to remove the doors with the hinges attached if at all possible so as not to screw up the hinge alignment.

Is this something a dealer can help me with? If they're even able to get the door off, will I need to replace the seized hinge pin? I've searched this forum along with just about the entire internet and haven't found any cases like this, so I'm a bit lost as to what to do next.

Any advice is appreciated.

 

Your not alone. Many have had trouble getting the doors off. The aluminum inserts they use tend to react with the metal used on the rest of the parts, and almost weld themselves together. That is why the Delrin plastic sleeves are so common. Have you tried using liquid wrench, or some other type of anti seize to saturate it and leave to work its magic? I have always been a bit nervous about jacking up on the door with a 2x4, for fear of the damage it might cause. Another thing to try might be to thread the hinge nut partially, and try hitting up on it with a hammer and block of wood to see if the sudden impact will break it free. The hitting at the nut itself might be more to the exact spot, and help to get things started. Although realigning the hinge might not be that hard to do, you still have to get them separated for future removal, so you may not gain much by un bolting the hinge.

 

every 3 months i remove my doors and lube them that is the only way that i have been able to keep hinges from sticking , i hadd to remove all hinges fron the door post to get them off the first time was not that hard putting it back on i marked where they were located with a wax pen when i was done it wiped right off

 

I just put anti sieze on mine before installing the doors back on. Do it each time. Never have problems lifting the doors back off even if it's months of waiting through the fall and winter.

I'll be ordering the inserts sometime though so I went have to do that each time.

Sent from my Go Go Gadget handheld device.

 

I'll definitely be doing that once I'm actually able to get the driver's side door off. Considering I just bought the JK about a month ago, it seems the previous owner never took them off. Or, if he did, never greased the hinges.

I'm also going to get some of the delrin bushings so I don't have to worry much about it, I'm just hoping I can get the door off without too much trouble. I've been thinking of ordering the delrin bushings and taking them to a dealership to "have them installed" (aka let them worry about getting the door off).

 

Mine was hard to remove the first time I did too. Mine are half doors so they weigh a lot less but try lifting up and moving the door back and forward at the same time.

 

Oh believe me, I've tried. The issue is the hinge pin is no longer spinning in tandem with the door itself. It stays put and does not spin or move at all, so opening/closing the door really does nothing to help coax the pin out.

 

I had the same issue with my rear passenger door the first time I tried to take it off. I just sprayed it with penetrating oil a couple times then used a punch on the bottom of the pin and tapped lightly with a mallet. Seemed to loosen it up just enough to be removed. I've installed the Delrin now, no issues.

 

Did the hinge pin pop out of the hinge piece attached to the door when you tapped it with the mallet? I actually tried using a punch and tapping it a bit but didn't want to hit it too hard and mess it up even more. Maybe using a little more force would work.

 

To get th doors off on my 08 took a highlift and a block of wood and it was about an hour a door. My 13 lift lifted off