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Installing Dutch Doors…. On a Astro/Safari van with the old barn doors…. By 86astro. This is based on my experience in a recent installation of the dutch style doors on my astro.
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Installing Dutch Doors… On a Astro/Safari van with the old barn doors…
By 86astro • This is based on my experience in a recent installation of the dutch style doors on my astro. • Of course, I make no guarantees on your results, but I can honestly say that it is a basic install, and wasn’t as difficult as I had figured.
Some advice before we start... • First, have a few friends handy…these doors are awkward if you are trying to do this alone. This is not to say it can’t be done by one person, but make life easy. • Second, air tools, namely cutoff or “whiz wheels” are dangerous. If you use them, be careful!
When getting your doors, get the following… • The doors…yeah, no kidding. • The seals around the door opening. • The wiring harness. • The latch assemblies from the body • The lift struts • To save pounding out pins in the yard, have the doors cut out past the moving part of the hinge, be as close to the van body as possible. I will discuss a new approach to getting these stubborn pins out. They were the worst part of the whole job.
From the dealership, you need to get the following… • Door hinge pins, GM part number 15598845, you need 4. Price when I did this was $4.58 each. • Hinge bushings, GM part number 9721917, and you need 8. Price is $.88 each. • These parts are available at most any Chevy/GMC dealer, but call first with the numbers to be sure.
Lets begin by removing the hinge pins from the NEW doors. • There are many ways to do this. Hammer them out, use a special tool the Eastwood sells, or do as I did, and cut the center section of the hinge out with a cutoff wheel. There is a write-up on 15 minute rear door removal on astrosafari.com about this. Do a search for “HOW-TO, Barn Door Removal In a Hurry!” written by hwtc2002.
Then, after you slice the pin in between, simply take a punch and a few raps with a good hammer will bring the pin right out. A old bolt works too.
On mine, the splined part of the pin didn’t want to come out…UGH… • I took the cut off wheel again, and made a top to bottom cut on the hinge to relieve the pressure holding the pin in. • Worked like a charm. A few taps with the hammer and out it came.
Use extreme caution when using a cut off wheel. I slipped with it once. Luck was with me…
Now, just simply repeat for the other side. • Be careful of any wires when you are using the cutter. You will need to remove the speaker wires and such from your existing doors. • The doors are not overly heavy, but they are awkward. Don’t drop them on your foot!
Pick a side of lower doors, and install…The new pins will go right in. use the new bushings!
Install the new weatherstrip. • This is a must, as the old strip is way different, and will not keep water out. • Just loosen some of the side panels and the upper panel just inside the door, and pull the striping off.
This fits right in too… • The old barn doors have a indentation in the weather-strip to allow for the upper latch. Remove the latch, and the new weather-strip has cutouts in it to allow it to look like this…
The strip will go ACROSS the dip! Cutouts in the strip are shown by arrows…
You must remove these two pins…or the new upper door wont shut.
Now for the fun part… • Get your help in place now. This door is a little heavier! We had a guy laying on the roof… • Make sure you silicone where you drill the 4 holes, which are 5/16. • In the next frame you will see where you need to make 2 holes in the rear body to allow you to tighten the nuts…get out the cutter!
With Josh on the roof, he held the door up there, and I simply lined it all up side to side, and he marked the holes.
Don’t forget to install the new upper-strip, or notch yours out. • If this is not done, the upper hinges can’t lay on the body properly. • I chose to simply notch mine out
Make your 4 holes, silicone the hinge bottoms, and tighten them up…that’s it! A 10mm socket works great!
Now for the rest…namely the… • Latches • Wiring for the hatch popper, or whatever that thing is really called… • I chose to delete my rear wiper, so I won’t be wiring that. • The struts.
Latches • I simply used washers to move the top out…also, self tapping screws are great here. • I aligned the latch by closing in in the catch and simply shutting the door and marking it with a sharpie. • I screwed the top hole first, then re-checked the door for alignment…all was well…
Lets do the struts now… • I measured down 2 inches and drilled a 9/32 hole in the upper part of the side body. That is a little smaller than the ball stud shown with the drill bit. • The other end of the strut should be fastened to the door. • Don’t over tighten! I used locktite on it as well
And in the up position…watch those struts…mine are weak, and they can produce a headache and a half!
The hatch release… • There are two wires on your hatch that go to the solenoid. They start as red and black, then become a larger grey and black. On mine, I simply grounded the black wire to the upper body, as shown here…
The switch… • I chose to run to a switch on the lower part of the drivers seat. And then I ran the wire from there to the back, and then the other end of the switch to battery+
