'67 door hinges; Door hard to close

Cougar Community Classic Cougar Maintenance Restoration and Repair
1

I own an early '67 with the cast iron lower door hinges. Years ago, I rebuilt the hinges with one of the commonly available kits (I don’t recall which one). The rebuild was a PITA but I got them rebuilt. Afterwards, I felt like the doors were difficult to close, however, they seem to be getting worse. I am getting concerned that the amount of force to close the doors is going to damage the door especially the driver’s side. Opening the door doesn’t require any excessive force.

The problem seems to be overcoming the two humps in the cam(?) that create the indents. When I compared the new cams to the original cams, I noticed the humps on the old cams were flat or nearly flat. I thought maybe someone ground the humps down to help the doors operate smoother, but, now I think they simply wore down on their own over time.

Looking at the other various components, they appear to be correct. The springs have the same number of coils, same diameter, and same length. The roller bushings seems to rotate freely on the pin. The problem seems to be amount of force needed to get the roller to “climb” the hump.

Anybody have experience with a similar problem or have any ideas of how to address this? Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

2

The door hinges need oil according to the book in the glove box. Yours sound ready.

3

Royce,

Thank you for the response. That make sense, however, the reason I haven’t tried it is that there is no zerk fitting to grease unless you’re indicating to use white lithium or another lubricant in a can. Also, do you place any on the mating surface of the cam and roller?

As far as that book in the glove box - never had one.

4

Squirt oil from an oil can on anything that moves or might cause friction. The book was in the glove box when your car was new. Copies are for sale on eBay and Amazon for a little money. Well worth it you need one.