Battery Door Hinge Replacement on MC8
May 28, 2000
When we purchased Footloose, I noticed that the rubber hinge
on battery door was rotten and that the door was probably going to fall off
anytime.
I was able to purchase the hinge material from Universal Coach but had devil
of time getting the inside part of the hinge off of the coach.
The hinge was secured to top of door compartment with 10 philips
screws that simply could not be removed. I finally ended up drilling the heads
off with the intention of removing the shanks with Vise Grips.
No way. Over the years battery fumes had literally welded the shanks of those
screws to the coach.
I also had to drill ot two of the four small screws that secure
the rubber hinge material to the two hinge sections.
The old rubber in coach side of hinge came out very easily but I had to literally
drill the other side on the door. I also had to scrape, pry and wish a bunch
of gunk out of the track on this side. I dont know where this was accumulated
gunk buildup or glue but it was one $%&^ of a job to remove.
I drilled new mounting holes in the coach side hinge immediately
adjacent to the existing holes and remounted it with self tapping stainless
hex head screws using the old screw shanks as a mounting guide.