Replacing Barn doors on a 98 Tahoe?

[TahoeDad]

I recently bought my first truck/suv, however you want to look at it a 1998 Chevy Tahoe/ Sport 5.7. I got it at a fairly decent price, given it had one flaw.. the right rear (passenger) back barn door window was busted and around the frame of the window was a little busted up.

I bought a replacement door from the boneyard, it is from a 98 or 99 Escalade. Perfect match, almost the same color even. Now when I got it from the boneyard they cut it behind the hinges of the door. (at the L bracket that would wrap behind the tailight framing) So after seeing the cut, I figured easy fix just knock the pins out and put it on.. like you would a door at home. Wrong..

Here is a brief description to what this looks like. You have a barn door, you see the hinge, the bolt that goes into the hinge looks like it was welded onto the hinge and the hinge still turns around the bolt? As wacky as this sounds this is true.

I researched and searched for about 3 months now of having the door in the back of my truck.. and could not find a positive answer on how to go about changing these doors. I asked my cousin who is the current certified mechanic of the family right now, and he mentioned this method.

"Grind the top of the bolt off where it looks welded.. and knock it from bottom up out of the hinge holding"
... "then take the bolt after you get the new door on and hammer it in the hinge upside down" He says this will hold the door on and make it function as if I successfully replaced the door.

Im thinkin.. man thats a big lawsuit if the door fell off while I was going down the road.. and what if I mess up the bolts while trying to hammer and grind them out.. then id end up with my only driver.. driving with only 1 rear barn door attached would be stupid because I tried to be the fixer man.

I would like to successfully do this job myself. However I am at a standstill because of my beleifs in this method.. if anyone else has any help on how to do this.. or if they sell a replacement bolt for the barn doors please feel free to jump in!

Thanks!

[kw70chevy]

cant you buy a grade 8 bolt the same size and tach weld the nut so it want back off.

---------- Post added at 06:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:45 PM ----------

i looked at the pins on my 97 tahoe there not welded on it they are just press in tight.cant you un bolt the hinges off the inside of the door and use the hinge off your old door.

[TahoeDad]

buying the bolt is possible.. on my bard doors the bolt looks as if it were molded on the same metal as the hinge.. and to unbolt the hinges you have to get behind the tail light casing and more than likely bend the framing of the tail light case up to get the full L bracket attached out.. most of the doors are glued onto this L bracket? idk why lol..

I will try to get a picture uploaded and show you what I ment by "looks welded on".. Thanks for helping.. means a lot.

[osgprometheus]

I do agree with the grinding it and welding the nut w/ grade 8 bolt method.

[TahoeDad]

Hey its worth a shot.. if I dont fix it the worse that could happen is I have to call an autobody to fix my mistakes lol.. it cant be that bad. How much do you think they would charge a guy with the door already bought? im thinkin 100 bucks.. give or take.

[osgprometheus]

Hard to say, every shop is different in prices.