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Welding door "stay-open' hinge 850

The drivers door "stay-open" device bracket welds have broken and are creaking badly. I need to get my son to weld it before the whole thing breaks. Has anyone done this? Does the door or fender have to be removed first and if so which is easier? Also when arch welding on the car what precautions should be taken? Battery or computer disconnect, etc. Thanks...








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    Welding door "stay-open' hinge 850

    I did this repair last week without removing the door and it worked fine. I was careful to mask off adjacent areas of the car with cardboard and such, and was able to wedge the MIG tip in far enough to give me the access I needed. Caveats: I'm a welder and primarily do more difficult and custom work for a museum; my welds came out kinda ugly (but plenty strong). It would have been much easier with the door off but I didn't have the right tool to remove it and wanted some instant gratification. : )

    By arc welding, I presume you mean MIG (TIG and stick are also arc welding processes). A stick weld will generate way too much heat for this application.

    Good luck.
    --
    Steve in Minneapolis - 1996 855 GLT 234k, 1988 745 GLE 145k, former 240s








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      Welding door "stay-open' hinge 850

      Thanks .... My son's a decent welder but certainly not in your league. I'll see what he can do when he gets back from Hawaii. He's really enjoying having an Aloha Airlines flight attendant girl friend.








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    Welding door "stay-open' hinge 850

    I have done the repair Klaus gave you the link to several times; once on my 850 and once on a friend's. My repair is 4 years old and no problems. Very simple fix--highly recommended!
    --
    96 850T, Bilstein HD, IPD swaybars-HD endlinks








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    Welding door "stay-open' hinge 850

    Take a look at this site first:
    http://au.geocities.com/ozbrick850/doorstraps.html

    If you are going to weld, take the battery OUT of the car. I would suggest grounding the car to a house faucet or something similar to help with electron dispersal. Unplugging the ECUs would be a good idea.

    Klaus
    --
    The 164 has a new home, all I am left with are a 95 854T and a 98 V70R :)








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      Welding door "stay-open' hinge 850

      Great Info Klaus. Thanks for the help.








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        Welding door "stay-open' hinge 850

        I've done plenty of both method and if the door stop anchor point is not too badly blown out I opt for the nut and bolt method every time. To answer you question though you will need to remove the door and the door harness connector that is in the door opening by the anchor point. To get this sucker out you will need to pull the driver's knee bolster and the bolster mount on the left side to get to the harness connector. Then take a large piece of carboard and slide it in behind the door opening to protect the side of the dash while you are welding. The book will always tell you that you need to disconnect any control units in the car and while it is probably a good idea I have never seen a bodyshop yet that does it. I have seen one car in the past 25 years or so come in with a smoked control unit that could probably be attributed to welding on the frame at a bodyshop. It goes without saying that you will need to take a wire wheel and clean up the area to be welded right down to bare metal, clean it again when you are done and then seal it with some kind of decent paint. I have never stick welded (arc) one of them back together and I would think that if you were going to that you had better be pretty darn good at what you are doing as the metal is fairly thin in that area and if you over penetrate it and start blowing big molten holes in things you are going to be real sorry. I have always used a MIG (wire feed) welder to do it. As far as grounding it to the faucet, ummmm, that might be a bit on the overkill side.

        Mark








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          Welding door "stay-open' hinge 850

          LOL. I thought that was pretty ingenious :) Those poor little electrons need some place to go!
          I also am not a fan of welding in that area and prefer to use bolts if at all possible, or adding a piece of metal against the bodywork to help take some of the stress.

          Klaus
          --
          The 164 has a new home, all I am left with are a 95 854T and a 98 V70R :)








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            Welding door "stay-open' hinge 850

            Thank you both again. Both of the spot welds have let go so I'll have to take a good look at it when I get the door off to see what I can do. My son's a pretty good welder and I don't. That's why I said arch welder instead of the wire feed which is what he has. Still don't know a TIG from a MIG.







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