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Sprained Drivers Door - How to remove front wing?

Paul_Driver

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Mar 5, 2010
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I was caught in bad weather recently and whilst getting out of the car a big gust of wind caught the drivers door and violently threw it open. It broke the door stay and sprained the hinges. Now the door doesn't close properly and needs rehanging.

To the front it touches and scrapes against the front wing, whilst to rear there is a 10mm gap between it and the rear door. I think the door has also dropped slightly. No doubt the door seals will leak and on occasion it also can spring open.

With some difficulty I've removed the door and the hinges. With a hammer I then tried to straighten the hinges out only to make them worse. Yes I know I should have used a vice but I don't have one. No worries, some good hinges and a stay are on the way to me courtesy of an ebay seller.

Even so, when trying to re-hang the door it quickly becomes apparent that the bolt holes in the hinges allow quite a lot of play, leading me to conclude that even with undamaged hinges it will be a bugger to hang the door properly. During manufacture I guess the door is fitted before the front wing is attached, allowing open access to the bolt fastenings with room for adjustments.

The front wing appears to be just bolted on, so is it an easy job to remove it? Does the wheel arch have to be removed first? Do I need to watch out for any complications regarding the snorkel?
 
I had considered taking off my wing when fitting the snorkel but it became more and more obvious as time went on that it is a complete bugger of a job.
Sorry can't help mate, but if you can survive without taking the wing off you would be far better off.

Your problem here could be a slightly twisted 'A' pillar so you may have to do a bit of deft spacing with washers. I don't know how you would check that though?

Good luck anyway, the wing will come off if you really want it too. I think I am right in saying that the wheel arch trim can stay attached.
 
Hi,
It is a pretty easy job to take the wing off. Lift the bonnet and remove the bolts along the top of the wing, then pull out the indicator unit next to the headlight, it is held in by a small screw and a push ball fitting, romove the two bolts you now have access to.. Open the door and remove the bolt nera the top of the wing.... remove the bolts that are inside the wheel that bolt the wing to the inner arch...now remove the bolts on the underside down by the seals (bottom rear of wing by the door and seal)...now carefully pull the wing off the truck, dont forget to undo the side indicator wire.

Fitting is the reverse pretty much, but get some of the top ones in first and dont tighten any up til you have them all in.

The wheel arch extension does not need removing!
 
Just waiting for the hinges to arrive before I get started. Thank you both for the tips.
 
I got everything sorted today.

The wing removal prove a little difficult though. In addition to the instructions given by Greg there was an additional bolt beneath the panel along the bottom of the windscreen. I had to remove the bonnet to get at it.

I thought at first that there were complications with the snorkel, but the found the following post useful viewtopic.php?f=15&t=7641&hilit=snorkel - one of the pictures showed the additional bolt that needed removing.
 
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Its always nice to have a happy ending ;)

Well done :)
 
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