Rear barn doors hard to open

[seikokid]

Barn doors on my 16 plate in the past few months getting so stiff to open and close have to use both hands and sometimes body to close / open them. Almost to the point the handle might break. tried all sorts of oil and grease with no change.

Any ideas as it’s a family vehicle and the missis is really struggling.

[loot]

Spray wd40 on the latches in case they are going stiff and then on a cloth and wipe the rubber seals all the way around in case they are sticky.
There shouldn't be any vacuum if the van ventilation is correct.

Once they are open a bit do the doors move open and closed freely?

[seikokid]

done that - the doors are so stiff you could open them halfway and drive all day and they would not move

[loot]

So it seems that the hinges are the problem, you need to see if somehow when they've been fitted that either they have failed themselves somehow or the body has made them twist against each other

You need to maybe hold the door up /support it and then undo 1 of the hinges and see if that hinge is then free.

It'll either allow both hinges to seat freely and solve the problem or show 1 or both hinges to be faulty and I'd say an odd manufacturing defect has occurred.

You may want to ask Ford if it is a known problem.

Not something I've read.

[seikokid]

it was my work van for several years , never had a problem until just before the summer and it’s getting worse

ill ask ford as oil and grease are not working and it’s not been knocked either

[TallPaul]

The hinges on my old Custom starting seizing after a couple of years, oddly the drivers side was much worse- the one that gets opened the most. Every few months I had to spray a mix of white grease and then WD40 into them to try and free up the pins, opening and closing them to ensure maximum penetration (fnnaar). I'd found on their own, WD40 was too thin to do anything and white grease too thick to get in.
You dont want to let them get too bad or you'll encourage corrosion into the door and rear pillar where the panels flex...

[loot]

My guess is the poor paint on the hinges in time rubs off allowing rust to appear which expands and the lack of room makes it compress.

Hinges aren't that expensive really and under weekly checks will most likely include lubricating them etc which nobody really does.

You could probably file them or work a wire or something in the gap to clear it. Limited ink by imagination

My mk7 back doors on the other hand are singing off the hinges and rattle they're so loose

[TallPaul]

I think its the hinge pins themselves corroding and binding, plenty of regular lube should sort it. Mine started playing up at around 80,000 miles.

[longhair]

Both my doors were really hard to open fully. I tried wd40 and oil with no success but cured the problem using Wurth rost off to free them off and then ACF 50 to keep them free. Since doing this I have had no problems at all.

[richbee]

Mine was doing this until last week - got worse over a couple of months, despite white grease application - only the drivers door side.
Then suddenly freed up for no apparent reason - absolutely fine now, very strange

[seikokid]

I see now it is the driver door that is far worse than the near side. I’ve ordered some wurst rust ice . let you know

good to hear it’s quite common

[seikokid]

Been applying the Rost off and it seems to be working. Applying it every other weekend, the rain isn’t helping mind but it’s a damn site better than before. Still won’t close freely but i’ll prob use up the can and see where we are then

[longhair]

I clipped back the door stays so I could work them back and forth through 180 degrees and just kept pumping the rost off and acf50 in . It took a few sessions over a week but they feel like they are on bearings now. I think one problem may be that most owners probably only open the doors 90 degrees with the stays on so the hinges don't get the full movement to keep them free. Once you get them free just keep them lubed with the acf50 and you should have no more probs with them.

[seikokid]

mines got much better now, i got the rost off ice version . been a few weeks since the last application but will keep persisting

[longhair]

I am contemplating drilling the hinges and fitting grease nipples then I could blast a load of grease in hopefully keep them from keep seizing again. I know I manage to keep them free now by routine lubing but I think packing them with grease is the way forward.