Now that I have my Hilux back in my home garage I have been cleaning it up and looking things over. I have a problem with my door saging badly. The door is drooping back and I have to lift and force it closed. Is it a hinge problem? Got a way to fix it?



Also anyone know how the rear license plate and license plate light would be mounted on a truck without a bumper from the factory? Was there a bracket?

 

my 73 does the same thing on the drivers side. it's in the hinges itself. the easy way to tell is open the door about half way and lift up and down. if it flops around the hinges are worn. if it's tight the hinges are out of alignment.

to compensate until i find good hinges, i loosened the hinge bolts and lifted the handle side of the door as much as possible and tightened them. it makes the door close easily now.

no clue on the license light.. lol

 

Door will almost certainly be badly worn hinges. If you removed them and took them to a couple of engineering shops / your local industrial area, you could probably get some ideas on if they can be rebuild or not. Depending on what's worn you may be able to machine up a new metal collar/bush for it, or if it's an integral part perhaps it could be built up by welding and then machined back to correct size.

I will be doing the same thing with mine, but won't be making progress on the issue for at least a few months so am sorry I can't help further. If/when I get it sorted I'll post some pictures & details.

 

Door does not flop up and down. Door is very tight. Its very hard to lift the door to close. If the hinge pins were just worn it would easly move up and down. Only does this problem once and a while, too. Will close perfect for a week then the next week I got to fight with it.

 

Try checking the hinges on the cab sections maybe the bolts loosened up or rusted out. Sounds like the hinges are sliding up and down and the bolts are semi holding it there.

 

My door looks like it used to rub, and someone re-adjusted the hinges or something.

As for the rear plate holder, yes, there was a OEM one that your car is missing.
I just went and took some shots of my car:



This was definitely OEM. The fit and finish, contour is perfect to the bed.
Came with license plate lights too. Another angle up close from a lower angle:



And last but not least, a shot of the plate bracket from under the truck.
Please excuse the cob webs. lol



Hope this helps!

 

A friend of mine who saw the plate backing said it looks like a cartoon character. lol