Door hinges or the joy of a joggle stick
Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2026 3:13 pm
After having a set of new drivers door hinges on the shelf for over 30 years I decided it was time to fit them. 
No problems there but the door fitting into the door aperture was not all that good. So dug out the joggle stick and after a few deft leverages I managed to get the door to fit correctly and whilst not to Volkswagen standards it is much better than it was.
Using the joggle stick brought memories of pre-delivery/inspections and having to use the joggle stick to get the door to fit correctly.
I have seen film of the joggle stick man adjusting the doors on the Morris Minor production line and it was very skilled job just knowing where to give a joggle.
Joggle sticks come in all shapes and sizes and my joggle stick was a piece of flat plank about 3" wide and about 3/4" thick and about 30" long.
The new full hinges are aluminium and are half the weight of the lightened steel door hinges fitted previously.
I had a problem with the 2 BA Philips headed screws holding the door locating plate on the 'B' post but managed to remove them by drilling them out and re-tapping the threads. They were replaced with countersunk 2 BA Allen headed screws for ease of future removal.
So now the drivers door does not drop when opened.
The steel door hinges were the original ex factory ones and had done about 85,000 miles since Jan 1958.
The job was made much easier by not having any internal door fittings/glass or strengthening.
No problems there but the door fitting into the door aperture was not all that good. So dug out the joggle stick and after a few deft leverages I managed to get the door to fit correctly and whilst not to Volkswagen standards it is much better than it was.
Using the joggle stick brought memories of pre-delivery/inspections and having to use the joggle stick to get the door to fit correctly.
I have seen film of the joggle stick man adjusting the doors on the Morris Minor production line and it was very skilled job just knowing where to give a joggle.
Joggle sticks come in all shapes and sizes and my joggle stick was a piece of flat plank about 3" wide and about 3/4" thick and about 30" long.
The new full hinges are aluminium and are half the weight of the lightened steel door hinges fitted previously.
I had a problem with the 2 BA Philips headed screws holding the door locating plate on the 'B' post but managed to remove them by drilling them out and re-tapping the threads. They were replaced with countersunk 2 BA Allen headed screws for ease of future removal.
So now the drivers door does not drop when opened.
The steel door hinges were the original ex factory ones and had done about 85,000 miles since Jan 1958.
The job was made much easier by not having any internal door fittings/glass or strengthening.
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