Door Hinge Pin question

[robs400]

Spent too much time this weekend replacing the pins and bushings on my beater fox and am now questioning the integrity of the replacements I put in. I picked up new pins and bushings from the local advanced auto and figured I'd be set.

The original looked like this poor quality picture I just found on the web.


The originals were a pain to remove due to the splines on the bottom part of the pin that are press fit into the bottom part of the hinge attached to the body. The splines not only made my life miserable that afternoon, but they also keep the pin from rotating when the door is opened. This makes sense, because the bushings are pressed into hinge pieces attached to the door. So when the door opened, the bushings rotated around the stationary hinge.

The new ones were great to install because its a slip fit straight thru with no splines. However, there is no way for the pin to be held stationary relative to the hinge coming off of the body since there are no splines/press fit. So now when I open the door, the pin actually rotates with the door (no motion between the bushings and the pin), and the pin rotates inside the hinge coming off the body, which is steel on steel contact.

There is a thru hole in the bottom of the pin that looks like a cotter pin could be inserted, however that would only prevent the pin from working its way up and out of the hinge, it would not limit rotational motion at all. My first thought is to just put a small tack weld on the head of the pin between the pin and the body hinge. Does that seem like it would make sense?

[badass98svt]

What brand is the new hinge?

[robs400]

It was only the pins and bushings I replaced, not the actual hinge. NOt sure on the brand, it was the only one available at advance auto.

[waytoomanycars]

I wouldn't tack it, the hole for the cotter pin is there for a reason though. If you tack it and have issues down the road you'll have to cut it and why go through the hassle?

[robs400]

A cotter pin is only going to make sure it doesnt work itself up out of the hinge. It needs to be secured to the hinge that attaches back to the body to stop the pin from rotating. If I tack it right on top, I'll just have to grind the tack off if I ever have to remove it. I had to grind the head off the original oem pin anyways, and that was the easiest part of the whole process.