2010 D22 door hinge replacement/Guard removal required?

[Gorb]

Hi Folks,
Just working through some of the minor issues with my newly acquired 2010 D22 dual cab. Front drivers door (top) hinge needs replacing and I was given new top and bottom hinges by Nissan who sold me car. They offered to do it, but as I live bush, stupidly I said I would do it instead of waiting around town for them to. Looking at the task closer, it seems the front fender may need to be removed to get access to the body side bolts.

I've looked through the forum and cannot find any definitive info as to my queries formed in my mind. Specifically, Do I need to remove guard, seems apparent yes, Do I need to pull out headlight etc and are there any hidden bolts to be aware of. From forum searches, I believe there are a couple of bolts under the black windscreen panel thingy, but I couldn't find info how to access them.

I purchased a digital workshop manual which I am still trying to work out how to navigate properly, but in the body section it talks about hinge adjustment, but doesn't actually mention how to get to the hinge bolts and disappointingly doesn't advise how to remove guards/fenders (that I can find). It's a hard document to navigate.

So, has anyone done a "How to" either change door hinges or remove front fender/guard and provide a link OR can anyone provide details on how to remove guard or how to replace door hinges WITHOUT fender removal?

Thanks in Advance...

 

[amber.2]

just an idea cant you just remove the inner guard lining ?

 

[maddon]

done mine twice - same year/model as yours / 400,000 - done it without taking guards off but from memory a true pain and all the time when not straining the electrical

 

[Gorb]

just an idea cant you just remove the inner guard lining ?

I'll check it out today and post back a how to, if that is possible.. Thanks..

 

[Gorb]

done mine twice - same year/model as yours / 400,000 - done it without taking guards off but from memory a true pain and all the time when not straining the electrical

Maybe if I had some bent/angled spanners or something, I dunno... I'm pretty well setup with tools but nothing that can get in there without doing damage. I'm gonna check out Amber.2 comments and see if that is an option.. Cheers

 

[grumpy too]

I had to replace the top drivers side hinge on a 2009 but took the hinges off a 2011 and I had to take off the guard and that means the panel in front of the windscreen and head light but I was stripping them off anyway.
Beware when you take the little bracket thingy off that holds/stops the door from swinging loose as if it allows the door to swing too far open it will crease the door near the top hinge .
Yes it is a real pain to do but even worse if you want to take door right off with wiring etc.
I agree much better to let dealer do it.
Yeah just went out and had a look I really can't see how you could change hinges especially without great difficulty or damaging paintwork, you could try taking inner guard protector off but you also need to remove the shroud behind the hinges, its only two bolts, maybe Maddon can shed more light on how he accessed the bolts.

 

[Gorb]

I had to replace the top drivers side hinge on a 2009 but took the hinges off a 2011 and I had to take off the guard and that means the panel in front of the windscreen and head light but I was stripping them off anyway.
Beware when you take the little bracket thingy off that holds/stops the door from swinging loose as if it allows the door to swing too far open it will crease the door near the top hinge .
Yes it is a real pain to do but even worse if you want to take door right off with wiring etc.
I agree much better to let dealer do it.
Yeah just went out and had a look I really can't see how you could change hinges especially without great difficulty or damaging paintwork, you could try taking inner guard protector off but you also need to remove the shroud behind the hinges, its only two bolts, maybe Maddon can shed more light on how he accessed the bolts.

Hey GT,
I missed your post, had already gone out to have a look and start on the job. My how to follows... Thanks for your input and thoughts.

 

[Gorb]

Well Guys and Gals, I've successfully changed the hinges, both upper and lower on my D22 drivers door. This is a 2010 Thai built.
Thanks to those above for their thoughts and input. Amber.2 almost won the prize, after the suggestion to try to get at it under plastic inner guard lining. I did that 1st and it was oh so close. Could probably do the bottom hinge, but not the top. The guard / wing / fender must be undone.

Did the job with the intention of posting a "How to" with pics. Will do my best to explain here, but please bear in mind, I ran into problems so my note taking became a little less enthusiastic and same with photos, but I think I covered it all. I'm not real good with posting pics and sh1t either, so I'll see what I can do here.

Job took me nearly 5 hours working without instruction. If I had to do it again, I reckon I could do it in 2.
I did it alone, so is a one man job.

Tools:
10mm and 12mm sockets and an open end 10mm spanner
An extension of around 250mm
Decent lighting
Torque wrench if you are a stickler for torque
Door trim tool (fork type) or something to pop out plastic clips
Small screw driver
normal sized Philips screwdriver
Cleaning stuff
** Highly recommended a small 2 or 3 lever "puller" for windscreen wiper.

Be prepared for some cleanup along the way, if you like a clean worksite. I uncovered a hep of dirt/mud and 10 years of crud behind panels and in guards. It's a good time to clean it out.
If your aerial is broken, now is the time to fix/replace it - My is broken and was a job for another day. I wish I had a new one to just put in as you are going there.
My tools/sockets etc are based around 1/2 inch drive. It made access tight. It would have been nicer t have smaller drive, but not essential.

The black panel/shroud under the windscreen needs to come off. The BIGGEST problem of the whole job for me, was removal of the wiper arm. I lost 90 minutes to this and cracked my shroud. ** I highly recommend having a small puller tool available. The type with arms that hook under the item you want to pull. if I had one, I would have had no issue. Wiper arm removal is one of those tasks where you will either have no problem or be f***** over. The problem stems from when it was (re)installed. On install (in case you have to remove again one day) you need to make sure it goes onto the spline straight. When you put it on, the spring in the arm can force it to one side slightly and if you bolt it down, you can cause it to offset. Particularly if you then bolt it up with full arm strength. The only need to be nipped up, once on the spline. I also put a bit of grease on it as anti seize.

Three things need to be undertaken for this job.
1. The inner guard lining needs to be removed
2. The black windscreen shroud needs to be removed or at least popped open to gain access underneath
3. And the guard needs to be undone.

HOW TO CHANGE HINGES ON DRIVERS DOOR (Australia Right Hand Drive):

Remove the front right hand wheel
Support your car appropriately on axle stands.

REMOVING THE INNER GUARD LINING:
Sounds like heaps of people have done this already, but for those newbies like me, I shall explain:
Get your lighting and shine up into wheel well. You are removing the upper "ceiling" part of the inner guard lining. You will note there are a number of philips head screws around the the guard, get to it and remove those. You will also need to remove the ones at the TOP of the mud flap.

Next you will note there are a number of plastic pop trim clips (technical name) to come out - seven if I recall correctly. If you have never experienced these before, you pull out the centre "button" (small screwdriver or trim tool) about 3mm and then you can pull out the complete clip. To replace, keep it popped out until back in hole, then lock it by pressing in.


Try and take note as to how that panel fits in before pulling it out. Otherwise if you have problems when reinstalling, just refer to left side.

Pull out the plastic inner guard lining.

CONTINUED NEXT: HOW TO REMOVE THE WINDSCREEN SHROUD

 

[Gorb]

NEXT:
HOW TO REMOVE THE BLACK WINDSCREEN SHROUD

Undo the right hand windscreen wiper arm and remove. If your lucky, it may just come off spline. If you're smart, you took my suggestion of having a puller on standby, so use that. If you're unlucky and silly like I was - Good Luck. I got mine off, but as mentioned, it took about 90 minutes and I cracked my plastic shroud, so I won't share what I did. You do however, need to get the base of the wiper arm off the shaft/spline straight up. The plastic end cap of the wiper arm does come off, gently prise it up if need be.

Once you have removed your wiper arm, start on aerial by removing the square rubber seal around base. Should just pull up and off. If your aerial is not broken, push it all the way down.

This next bit you don't have to do, but I recommend it, otherwise it's extra clips you are fighting against in the next bit.
Under the engine bay, (half) remove the rubber weather strip along the windscreen shroud that the bonnet back sits along. Be careful, ideally you need a forked trim tool to pop the clips that fixes it.. The clips in the weather strip also form part of the clips that hold in shroud. If you don't support under the clip, the rubber may tear. Look closely at the pic along weather strip, you will see the white clips that hold it in place. Get a fork like instrument and pop them up.


You only have to do half way along and I think there is 3 clips from memory.

Next you need to pop up the windscreen shroud. It is in two halves, note in the centre, there is a join.
This is not super hard to do, but it is awkward. You need to pull it straight up. There is a locating lug in the front right hand corner, the other clips are trim type clips. If you can lift the locating lug out, then gently shuffle the shroud to the right slightly ( you need to clear the lip in the centre) The key is then a short sharp pull straight up. Note SHORT/sharp pull, TINY bit to the right but mostly up don't yank it 40 feet into the air as it wont pull away from the body, it just unclips. Examine the next photo carefully to see the clips in the shroud. If you look close to what those clip into, you will notice they have a elongated piece the lock into, so it can slide left/right to get under centre lip. (Hope that makes sense).


That's as far as you need to get it.

CONTINUED NEXT: Undoing the guard.

 

[Gorb]

HOW TO REMOVE THE GUARD:
Small disclaimer here - I didn't fully remove it, because I didn't have to.

The guard was the least of my hassle (mostly): All 10mm bolts.

I started at the bottom of the guard / fender / wing (worded for search purposes) near the door, working anti clockwise

There are two bolts inside the kind of door arch part, I guess I'd call it. They face opposite each other. One from the wheel arch, the other from doorway.
There is one bolt under the black shroud, just behind the aerial.
Three of four across top in engine bay and then one under guard in wheel well forward. This bolt is a total PITA. You can see it, you can touch it but you can only undo it with an open end spanner and the way it is packed in against a bracket and another bolt (for bumper I think) you can only turn it about 1/8 or a rev each movement and it gets worse as it comes out. Takes about 10 minutes both ways... Maybe if you have one of those hand held whizzy power thingy's, it might be worth taking out the bumper bolt, just to get it out of the way, but I'm not entirely sure that would help.

This is where it becomes interesting. I gave the panel a bit of a shuffle to see if there were any bolts I may have missed, particularly behind the headlight. All looked good. The panel was moving in all directions in a small shuffle so I went to remove panel from car but I couldn't quite remove it fully. This was probably fortuitous because I forgot to unclip the indicator from the panel (which you can do from the inside of panel and is a must if you remove panel fully). The indicator wasn't the problem, it seemed hooked up behind headlight and I feel to remove guard fully, the headlight will need to come out. It doesn't appear to be bolted behind headlight, just maybe curved in behind (??)

However, regarding this task, changing over the hinges, it wasn't necessary to go further. I could lift panel up and out enough to work in at the hinges. The panel will sit comfortable along top edge of engine bay and can move easilly 5 - 10 cm away from door. I had it so bottom sat along side steps. It was happy sitting there and there was no risk of bumping it and causing guard to bend or damage.


NEXT: CHANGING HINGES

 

[Gorb]

CHANGING HINGES:

This was easy. You don't need to jack or support door.

Keep the door SHUT.
Replace bottom hinge.
Do it up and if torqueing around 25nm should do it. I think book says 24 - 31nm from recall.

Follow up with top hinge.

Whilst I don't like opening doors when car is on stands or jacked, I did anyway to make sure and worked perfect.

Put the car back together.

For me, I put some 243 Loctite and door bolts. That's the stuff you can undo if need to, not the never to be released stuff.
I put some thin grease on the wiper spline to act as anti seize (for next time if need be) Make sure the wiper arm goes on straight and in line with how you took it off. See what I mean about the spring and centering spline!!!!

Putting all the bolts into guard, I left the one in the door arch until very last once, once the wheels was back on and car on ground. Make sure you do the one at the aerial before putting shroud back on.

Putting back the windscreen shroud, you could try a little grease on the clips that sit in the elongated bases, so it can slide easier. Remember you need to clip these back in and push it to the left slightly to get lip under the centre piece of shroud and realign the locating lug, front right corner.

The inner guard liner is annoying to put back together. Refer to left side if in doubt. Mine seemed to have part of it in under guard and part outside of guard edge, you'll know what I mean when you see it.

Once mine was all back together. door is back to normal, closes nicely and all good. At a real close look because I have OCD, it could probaly do with about 1mm of adjustment up, which I might do one day when I'm bored, but that's just me.

Finally, in your journey, like me, you will most likely come across a lot of muck and mud and other garbage behind the panels. Use this time to clean it all out.

At the bottom of my guards was a lot of compacted dirt. I drove it in the rain three days ago and this dirt was still wet mud, just lurking to do something terrible in the future. Had it not been raining today, I would have done this outside and given it a good hosing down, so consider parking/working in an area conducive to this if you feel you want to clean it out.



Hope this helps... Good luck..

 

[grumpy too]

That will be good for someone or yourself even next time, re the aerial replacement be prepared to just cut the old wire off and leave bits in place as they are pinned in place, re the indicators to remove them push the front or back edge (can't remember which) and it will pop out.
Re where the mud packs in I cleaned it out and painted with rust dissolver then painted and finally sprayed with Lanotec also sprayed every other place where water may sit with Lanotec