Rear Gate / Door
 

My rear door is really tough to swing open/close. My wife has a heckuva time even getting it open further than about 12 inches. Shutting it requires a pretty good slam. Just by looking at it nothing seems off kilter or out of whack.

I assume that the hinges are just sagging with age. I've greased everything 100x but it has little to no effect. Anyone dealt with this and have a silver bullet fix? Add some washers on the hinges?

Thanks in advance, any and all input is mucho appreciated.

i heard someone else having this problem don't know what they did to solve it. i took my tire off my door (cuz i had a flat) and i dont think im going to put a new one on there. ill just put it in the truck or when i get a rack on the roof.

You greased the door slide and stay? The roller under there too?

You might try some penetrating oil. I like to use Kroil penetrating spray.

http://www.tacomascrew.com/products/search/kroil


Willie

Having the same issue with my rear door, but all the lube in the world has not made it shut any easier. As others have asked is this something that can be fixed with a kit or hinge work?

take a look at the outside hinge it probley looks like mine all bent to hell
AB sell them for a hunded each.

Mine's the same way, however, i'm pretty sure that they were designed to be that way. Disco's were built universally, so for the 7 seaters, you have two children in the 3rd row seats with a door handle. What if one of them pulled the handle? Well, two kids didn't make it to Thanksgiving dinner this year lol. So my bet is that it's hard to open so if one of the kids pulls the door handle, they won't go flying out the back on the way to grandma's house. :)

I don't know if you have the same issue, but Ican tell you what has happened to mine, being that DI and DIIs share that hinge in common.

There are two little washer things in between the hinge halves, like a stack. Apparently over time they wear and eventually squish out, leaving the hinge halves rubbing on each other.

I discovered this as I was strapping a couch to the roof at Ikea. I cut myself on the little fingernail that was left of one that was half way hanging out when I grabbed it for a hand hold as I climbed on the tire to throw a strap across. Hilarity ensued.

Anyhoo, what I mean to say is the door has gotten progressively harder to open once the washers were all gone after last winter. I find PB"laster once a week helps, well, it makes me feel better about it, I guess, and I just keep reminding myself of the $200 and the nightmare of getting a 200 lb door off, on and realigned properly, and pull harder. Mrs. geek doesn't see it the same way, however so I'll be biting the bullet soon enough.

That's kind of what I figured it has to be. I'm guessing those washers must be completely obliterated, because there is nothing between the hinges that I can see:rolleyes:

Thanks everyone for your input...if I ever get around to actually taking the time to investigate fixing the darn thing, I will post.