1955-1959 Chevy and GMC Door Hinges - Hangin' Out- Tech

Doors are what most people would call deceiving. You see, when one reaches for a door handle on a Tri-Five Chevy truck, all it takes is a simple push of a button and the door opens with ease. However, the truth of the matter is that those doors aren't necessarily light; in fact, they are rather heavy, especially when the window, door internals, door panels, and possibly radio speakers are installed. What makes them so easy to open is the hinges, which allow them to swing freely, but even hinges begin to have a problem doing their job after years of wear and tear.

With over 50 years of hanging and holding up those heavy doors, the hinges begin to sag. Usually it doesn't hurt the hinge's function too much, but what a sagging hinge affects most is the door's fitment. Because of the sagging hinges, the gaps around the door begin to open up in some areas and close in others. All in all, it makes for a sight one doesn't want to see on one's truck.

In the years prior, the common way to fix a sagging door was to replace the worn-out hinge with a less worn used hinge. However, to get the job done in this day and age, it's just like almost every other task on a classic truck: one relies on the aftermarket industry. Being one of the largest providers of Chevy and GMC truck parts, it was only a matter of time before Brothers Classic Chevrolet & GMC Truck Parts added part numbers for new Tri-Five hinges. And that day has now come. Brothers now offers new correct reproductions of the door hinges for '55-59 Chevy and GMC trucks. The complete hinge assemblies are an easy replacement for the worn and sagging, not to mention damaged or missing, door hinges. Brothers manufactures both the upper and lower hinges so users can get the correct fitment and installation GM intended. The upper hinge even includes the door check assembly, which holds the door in the fully opened position.

Installing the new Brothers hinges is an easy yet tedious task. You see, the hinges bolt right up with common hand tools without a hitch. The problem lies in aligning the doors, because unlike some parts where all it takes to fit something is to bolt it in place, doors require proper alignment in the door jamb. Aligning doors is kind of like playing Battleship. You call out coordinates until you get a hit on a ship. Once you get a hit, you dial in on that ship by calling out the surrounding coordinates of the ship, until finally the job is done and the ship is sunk. Similar to that, when the door is somewhat in the correct position, start making ever such slight adjustments until the door fits perfectly. There's no science to it, just the guess and check method.

To get a bird's eye view of what it takes to install the Brothers hinges, follow along with Imzz Industries in La Habra, California, while they install a set of the new hinges.