Door weight

[Rdchallenger]

Now that all of my panels are in high build primer I will be starting a mock reassembly for block sanding. The question is though what do y'all use for weight to get the 52 pounds for the doors? I'm really not trying to spend nearly 100 dollars on some chain that I'll use once. Lol

[Daveh]

I have some filled sand bags and they work great.  No mess and they will conform to what you need them to. 

[jimynick]

My son brought over some of his weight lifting weights. We wired them together once in the door and there's been no issues since. For what it's worth. 

[Cuda Cody]

Don't buy dead weight. Just look around your garage... There's weight everywhere.  And if you can't find enough, just use rocks from outside. Your door don't care as long as you get some kind of weight in it.  Other ideas you might find around your garage, tow hitches, snow chains, bricks, sand, steel scrap metal, bottle jacks, bags of old bolts, ect.

[Rdchallenger]

Don't buy dead weight. Just look around your garage... There's weight everywhere.  And if you can't find enough, just use rocks from outside. Your door don't care as long as you get some kind of weight in it.  Other ideas you might find around your garage, tow hitches, snow chains, bricks, sand, steel scrap metal, bottle jacks, bags of old bolts, ect.

My door cares damnit! It was on the Christmas list to Santa 

On a serious note, idk why I didn't think of sand bags 🤦🏻‍♂️

Thanks guys!

[Daveh]

In a past life I worked in the entertainment industry and we were always setting up stages and sets and had hundreds of those sand bags I still have about 6 that made it in my truck.  The great thing is they weight about 20 lbs. a piece don't leak and have sewn in handles.  I use them for many different projects around the house.  I had more but when I moved I cut them let out the sand and tossed them.  Which I still had more but room is always an issue.  The best part is no scratching. I've seen them on Amazon you just need to add the sand. Good luck

[jimynick]

The Canadian way would be to put about 2 cases of beer in that door and by the time you 'er right, both you AND the door would be adjusted 'bout right! 

[1 Wild R/T]

So.. Where in the door do you place the weight?  Cause if you put it more of it at the hinge end it won't do much...  If you put more of it at the latch end it'll do quite a bit...

If you simply don't put weight in the door but instead intentionally adjust the door about 3/16" high at the hinge end when you assemble the door it will hang just as it should....

[anlauto]

The two case of beer method works, but I find the melting ice makes a mess and by the time you're finished the job, the empty cans don't weigh as much as they did when full

The "just adjust the door 3/16" higher" works well when you're finished all your body work, but I don't understand if you set the door 3/16" higher at first, how would you block sand all the body lines correctly ?

It's pretty obvious the weight has to be distributed evenly along the bottom of the door....Try tube socks filled with sand, dirt, gravel, whatever you might have laying around outback...tip: Don't use the wife's socks.

[Daveh]

I had one friend hang his weight from the bottom of the door completely out of the way in installing the window.  Although he go so excited  that the one side went so well he went to shut the door with the weight still attached.  Luckily he caught it in time. 

[Cuda Cody]

I like the door to sag so it mimics weight in the door.  I put the weight about equally along the bottom of the inside of the door.

While doing an adjustment up exactly 3/16" will work, however I've found the weight method works best because each hinge (rebuilt, or used) will "sag" differently.  By using weight in the door right from the start you are assured the best possible panel alignments.    But if you don't have weight, the raising it up method works good too.  But make sure you do one method or the other or it will make more work later to get everything lined up after paint.

So.. Where in the door do you place the weight?  Cause if you put it more of it at the hinge end it won't do much...  If you put more of it at the latch end it'll do quite a bit...

If you simply don't put weight in the door but instead intentionally adjust the door about 3/16" high at the hinge end when you assemble the door it will hang just as it should....

[Rdchallenger]

So.. Where in the door do you place the weight?  Cause if you put it more of it at the hinge end it won't do much...  If you put more of it at the latch end it'll do quite a bit...

If you simply don't put weight in the door but instead intentionally adjust the door about 3/16" high at the hinge end when you assemble the door it will hang just as it should....

Isn't there also a method you use as far as leaving one hinge attached to the car with just the pin knocked out so that when reattaching everything it'll line right back up to where you had it?

[anlauto]

So.. Where in the door do you place the weight?  Cause if you put it more of it at the hinge end it won't do much...  If you put more of it at the latch end it'll do quite a bit...

If you simply don't put weight in the door but instead intentionally adjust the door about 3/16" high at the hinge end when you assemble the door it will hang just as it should....

Isn't there also a method you use as far as leaving one hinge attached to the car with just the pin knocked out so that when reattaching everything it'll line right back up to where you had it?

YES, that method was described and preferred by member HEMICUDA.
There's plenty of ways to skin a cat. Every shop has their own way they like to do things.