Rear Hatch Hinge Spring Removal and Fitting

Before the van is sent to the dippers I thought it would be a good idea to remove the two spring rods that hold up the rear hatch.

 

This was also to give me access to the new rust hole behind the hinge plate I discovered when I removed the rear hatch.

 

After a quick look at the installation I thought it would be a simple case of moving one spring one way and the other  the other. This didn't work as one would pull the other with it.

 

In the end I managed to remove the circlips and pins of the second part of the hinge then get the trusty Hammer pry bar and Ikea bed frame and with a little persuasion and a big bang the springs sprang out. this also dented the roof.

Here's a couple of pictures of there position when they came out so I know what way they go back in. If I can get them back in.

 

So after a while away from the rear hinge I've totally forgotten how to put it back together.

I grabbed the parts out of the parts box, took a few moments to work out what went where.

 I noticed the bushes in the arms were worn and had cracked on the edges.

A quick go on the lathe and two new bushes were made. 

 These were easy enough to squeeze into place in the vice

 A going over with the wire wheel and some primer

 I decided to spray up the parts off the van as its an awkward place to spray once fitted.

 Now for fitting, The two spring rods and handed, the only way I could tell which went where was due to bend in the rod end that was there to account for the curve in the roof, and the opposite end pointed down. if you fitted the wrong one the other end would point up.

Working from inside the van I held the rod at 45 deg to the rear hatch and placed the first end that was bent down to avoid the curve of the roof into the hole of the fixed bracket from its outside edge.

 Moving the second end of the rod towards it position allowed me to slot the first part of the rod into the slot of the fixed bracket. I then slid the moving part of the hinge over the rod and let it be held in the fixed bracket by the tension on the spring rod.

 

 I fitted both rod in position making sure they crossed over, before I fitted the rear hatch attachment bracket and its fixing pins.

With the rear hatch bracket fitted I then cut a slot and hole into a piece of angle that was about the length of my arm, I positioned this onto the end of the rod that was now hanging down 

 Using the leverage of the length of angle and some help to make sure the angle does not slip off the end of the rod, I rotated the angle inwards against the spring loading of the rod, this allowed me to position the rod into the slot of the fixed bracket as It rotated into the closed position.

  The pins were best pushed into there slots when the rear hatch bracket is half way open, this is when the load on these pins is transferred from one direction to the other.

The tension on the angle was manageable by one person but could very easily spring off the end of the rod while rotating into position. Do the same to the other side and your done.

Wish I'd know this when I took them apart.

 

Fitting Rear Seat Belt Anchor Points

Previously I've fitted seat belt points for all but the rear seat shoulder points, this has always been a tough place to try and fit a mount as there is only the outer skin to attach to. I don't fancy welding a seat belt attachment plate to the out side of my van.

 

There are a few ways this has been done before, and there is a thread on the SSVC (splitscreen van club) forum where members have shared there designs and thoughts.

 

Here are a few of them. and the threads

Fitting seat belts in a splitscreen bus

Rear seat belt anchor points

Rear seat belt fitting





Here is what I've done. Using the existing curve of the I cut a cardboard template of the pillar just forward of where I want to position my mount. I then cut a block of hard wood down the middle matching the curve of the template.

 

Calculating the width and height I cut a sheet of 1mm thick steel a clamped it along its centre between the curved blocks.

Using some heat along the bend I folded the first lip with a large mallet and block that had smooth edges so that it would not mark the metal to much.

With the first lip bent I simply flipped the block in the vice to bend over the second lip.

I then drew a parallel line of 35mm (-1mm for skin thickness) along the side to give me the thickness of the support. Keeping the folded sheet on the concave block I then used the convex curved block clamped on the side to let me bend the foot of the support back over the block, this was helped with some more heat.



With all four folds bent I trialled the support on the van and hammered out any high or low spots with a block and hammer

The top of the support was cut at an angle to fit in the top gutter and the bottom was profiled to fit the lip of the side wall at the bottom, the

The Height of the mount point was taken from a similar height as the front, the two remaining plates I had were trimmed to sit inside the section

The plates were held in with bolts to make sure they were in the center of the holes and welded into position.

To finalise the position to weld the support I dug out and fitted the old interior. This worked out about 21cm from the support back from the rear side window.

 

 

Before I welded the support in place I decided to make two more attachment points to weld to the bottom of the support as I'm sure of the design of the interior and where the seat belt real will be positioned. 

With all the paint from the contact surfaces removed and the inside of the support painted I clamped the bracket into position, I used threaded bar braced from the opposite side of the van to hold the support where the clamps would not reach.

With the spacing marked out I spot welded the brace onto the inner skin, (could not take a photo as the welder is so heavy) then welded around the top and bottom, there were a couple of holes that burnt a dimple in the skin, so Mig welded these.