After 14 years, the Defender doors had started to droop! It is widely known that Defender hinges wear, they wear at the interface between the pin and the body which is fixed to the door. Mine had so much play my door leaked.

In addition to the wear, they also start to corrode from the same place and cause bleeding paint effects. Not Pretty!

I did order some more hinges, but they were worse. So I sent them back.

Eventually, I stumbled across a blog which has since vanished, which gave me the idea I would do the same. I got hold of some hinges from a mate at work, knocked the pins out and drilled them for an M8 stainless steel bolt. I have not fitted a grease nipple yet, I’ll do this when I do the rest.

So far I have done the driver’s door, and it looks supper. I sprayed the hinges with etch primer and black Hammerite smooth. I then shoved them in the oven for a few hours to dry.

The hinge is fitted to the car with stainless steel screws, to reduce the effects of corrosion.

The result is that if I now check for play the whole vehicle moves. The plan is to try these for the summer and do the whole car in the winter.

There is some additional info here and if you are feeling rich you can buy some from Croytec, which has had the work done!