07 Access Cab - Broken Door Hinge : HELP!!

Isn't that arm connected to actual frame of the truck? It's not bolted to the door, correct?

 

And I think it definitely has something to do with the accident.

 

It's bolted from the door to the door frame. It's called a door check, it stops your door from swinging to far out and to hold it in place when opened.

 

It's not the accident that caused this problem. I've attached pics of the piece. As DFX said earlier, it's a part that fatigues from constant letting the door just swing open or just swinging it open really hard. After a while, it gets weak and as you can see, it's what happened to my truck. I'm assuming the guy who owned this before me used to do that because I sure as heck don't! I've owned mutiple vehicles and this has never happened! If you look at the picture where my bf is holding the part you can see the top roller. It's jammed. We tried everything to get it unstuck... short of taking a hammer to it, but that part is wedged in there. Plus it's also bent, so a new piece is definitely in order. Since I don't just drive around with tools, I wasn't able to take it apart to get the door closed, so I ended up ruining my door to get it closed so I could get home from work. I've also attached a Toyota diagram of the door assy and you can buy door and door peice for the super low price of $590 and have it repainted for another $300-$400, then buy the part for another $80 or so, you get the picture, but that is not the route I want to take. I don't want to have a mismatched door! So the metal piece is the route I'm going to take. I'm still devising different solutions to this dilemna. So for right now the door opens and it closes and the window goes up and down and it drives and that's what's important.

 

And I finally fixed this damn thing...definitely a pita, but the Dremel came in handy. I just have to seal, sand, prime and paint and it will be as good as new...errr...almost.

 

Looks great! I can't tell from the picture, how is the plate attached on the inside? I remember talk of rivets.

 

No rivets. I thought about that until I realized I couldn't really get the rivet gun in the right spot. So back to the thought process. While I was walking through Walmart one day to get some car wash supplies, I spied this JB Weld compound. I figured I'd try it out and see how well it worked. So far, so good.

I went to Lowes and got a sheet of steel for about $8.00. Then I pulled off the door panel and measured the parameters of the hole. I figured I'd cut some steel for a plate for both the inside of the door panel and the outside. I used the Dremel to cut two sections of the steel and clamped the peices together and cut out the holes for the check arm to fit. On the door, I cut out all the barbed and bent chunks as best as the Dremel would let me to get back to the flat surface for the metal pieces to fit. I'm lazy and didn't feel like taking off the door and removing all the wires, etc. Then I sanded inside and out. I remeasured the outside part of the door and rounded off the edges of the precut metal piece so I could fit one piece of metal on the outside part (which you see in the picture). The inside is still a retangular piece. I put the JB Weld on the inside piece first and used the check arm to line it up correctly and waited for it to set. Then I added the outside piece and use the check arm bolts to clamp that piece in and left for 24 hours. Now I'm working to "fill in" the open gaps with more JB Weld for a more secure hold. This weekend I'll sand it down, primer and paint it so it will look more like it did.

It took me a while to get to doing this because it was cold when this happened and since I don't have a garage...it wasn't a priority.... Then two short weeks later.....my truck got broken into and the a$$hats didn't steel anything!!! The damn doors were unlocked; so to be hateful...they busted out my windows! Ba$tard$! To add insult to injury the truck was sitting right outside my building at work and my office is 3 floors up from where I parked so I didn't see or hear a thing. The body shop that fixed it didn't put the interior pieces back together right, changed out a few pieces to suit themselves and then looked at me like I was crazy when I pointed out their nonsense. Needless to say, 5 visits later and I still had to do the job myself because they just couldn't get it right (WTH?). But I did Dynmat my access doors and eliminated all the rattles from everything. Now my speakers sound so much better. I swear you want something done right, you've got to do it yourself. You just don't mess with a girl's truck!

 

OP - I had similar popping sound on my truck. It drove me crazy for almost a week. When I finally took the time to look the (2) nuts had loosened and were ready to fall off. My guess is the original owner did the same thing I did, but let his get loose for much longer resulting in added stress to that metal.

I don't have anything to say in regards to fixing the issue - just wanted to let you know what may have caused it.

I'm sure there are more people out there with this issue.

 

4X ~ the screws weren't loose on mine and I didn't hear any popping until I broke the metal because the check arm broke and jammed. I kind of have to go with dfxdig on this one, metal and check arm fatigue from letting the door fly open. I think the guy who owned this before just didn't care. Since I've had it, I haven't really had many issues with it except this. Other than that, it's been an awesome truck and I've just been fixing/modding things that irk me that I think could be better.

 

Some people might give you crap for using JB Weld, but as long as you mixed it properly and prepped the bonding surfaces (roughed them up) you shouldn't have any issues.

 

Thanks for the support! It wasn't my first choice but it didn't seem reasonable to buy a new door and have it painted at $700 or so vs. the $100 in paint, supplies and the part and try fixing it myself. It seems to be holding pretty good. I used alot to fill in the holes and then sanded it out so I can start the paint process. I'll send a pic as soon as I'm done....er well get around to it.

 

I have the same problem with my 05 taco. However i bought it like this used from someone else, not new.

Thanks for posting this up and sharing with us your process. I know how to weld so fixing it shouldnt be hard for me.

My only question is, is it a pity taking off the door panel and installing the check arm or getting to that area from inside the door? I havent looked into it in great detail yet. Just curious.

 

Performula - You can go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjhYKzE_yBg&noredirect=1 and watch the hot chic. I don't look nearly this good and quite frankly, I would look ridiculous doing this in my bikini.

bwp - there is not a lot of room to move around in there and being a lady and having small hands made it a little easier for me to work on. I don't recommend welding a fitting into this...the reason being is because the heat will damage your paint. The JB Weld has been working phenomenally. No issues so far. I would recommend a thicker piece of metal than what I went with. I think I did 22 so I would go another size thicker.

 

I don't think this is a big issue or people all over this forum would be raising hell. Really. Control the door with your hand when you open it and it will not happen.

 

Hello,

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It is called metal fatigue and is caused by the metal flexing back and forth due to the forces placed on it bending it over and over.

I am not saying you are at fault or that it isn't a weak link. Just saying that it isn't very common from what I see. As many Tacoma owners that are on this forum alone it would seem there would be more than two instances of it happening... I would look into getting a junkyard door.

 

It is called metal fatigue and is caused by the metal flexing back and forth due to the forces placed on it bending it over and over.

I am not saying you are at fault or that it isn't a weak link. Just saying that it isn't very common from what I see. As many Tacoma owners that are on this forum alone it would seem there would be more than two instances of it happening... I would look into getting a junkyard door.[/QUOTE]


+1 on the junk yard door!

 

Ok....I get what you guys are saying....again, personally, from my experience I have NEVER had this happen on any of my purchased pre-owned vehicles....and I've owned a lot of vehicles. Please keep in mind I bought this Taco USED (meaning from someone else who previously owned it) and shortly thereafter this happened. Now explain to me how a 5'7", 120# woman can break the d*** door check after having it for less than a year? As I said before, I'm pretty sure the previous owner did not care for this truck and just let the door swing open a majority of the time causing the actual check arm to break, which in turn broke the metal holding it in place. At this point, restating, (yes, restating) metal fatigue is antagonistic especially when you are saying "I'm not saying it's your fault" but essentially you are and since it's already been commented on elsewhere in this thread....now the door check fix is still working just fine and I'm happy with it. I'm not getting a new door from a junk yard because it's not worth it. The intent of this thread was to help others who might suffer from the same thing with their Tacos or owners of other vehicles. Please stop the comments unless you have something further insightful to add which will aid in the door check fix... Thanks!

 

If you would care to Look At my post above you would see that my comments were directed at JohnCole whose post have disappeared, but appears as quotes in mine. I was not posting in contradiction or in a negative manner to your problem or fix. I think you did an excellent job of repairs, that suited you, your needs and your budget.

You are welcome!

 

Thank you very much. I appreciate it. (totally being sincere, no sarcasm intended)

 

My comments were aimed at John Cole as well. I actually thought you did a great job with your repair considering what you had to work with!