Rewelding the Door Hinge on a Jeep Cherokee

Rewelding the Door Hinge on a Jeep Cherokee

I previously welded the door hinge on this Cherokee a while back. I am not sure what abuse it has gone through but it came back to me this weekend with the door tied in place with a rope.

On initial examination, I found that the latch had tripped and was not allowing the door to close. I pressed the release button on the door handle and used a screwdriver to flip the latch back to the open position. I was then able to carefully close the door and it latched properly.

I removed the fender and examined my old welds. The old welds had held it had just broken further out. Possibly in the heat affected zone at the edge of the welds.

I spent quite a bit of time with both the angle grinder and my small air grinder to clean up the area around the break. I again used a 2×4 and a ratchet strap to compress the weather stripping. I was then able to press the broken part of the hinge back into place.

With the hinge in the proper position, I prepped my MIG welder. I started by adding a bead on the bottom hinge that was now beginning to crack. I then began working with the upper hinge. I had trouble getting a good bead at first because the thin sheet metal would burn away rather than bond to the weld. After some adjustments to the voltage on the MIG I was able to get the two parts to blend.

One the hinge was welded on three sides; I removed the 2×4 and opened the door. I added some weld to the inside of the hinge.

After it cooled, I sprayed some paint on to reduce rusting. The door closed nicely and latched properly. I then put the fender back in place and aligned it so the door would open and not hit the fender.