Inliners International Forums General Discussion Body & Paint 49 Fleetline Trunk Pin

Hello All-

I am into the rebuilding process on my 49 Chev Fleetline and ran across a problem that someone may have experienced before.
Q: How can I safely remove the trunk lid hinge spring in order to replace a broken keeper pin that holds the spring in place? The 5/16" pin broke and the spring is now held in place by the broken half of pin. I am nervous about driving pin out since the spring still feels under compression with the trunk lid open or closed.
Has anyone replaced one of these...safely. Thanks

Apache59

The process I have used but NOT on your type of spring is too run a couple of lengthwise loops of heavy wire thru the spring and twisting the ends tight. This keeps the spring from expanding any more. Sorta like doing coil springs with compressor hooks.A face sheild might be in order too.

Greetings . . .

To service that spring you'll need to take the back seat rest out. Leave the trunk closed. With access from the front you should be able to a put 3/8 threaded hook on to the spring. Then you can pass the threaded end through a hole in a piece of steel flat stock and place a nut on it. The flat stock will sit across the box that surrounds the spring. Now you can tighten the nut until you take the tension up off the pin so you can safely to take it out - and then you can put in the new one.

regards,
stock49

Drew and stock49-
Thank you for the tips; I was able to remove the spring and hinge as a unit using a safety wire to keep the spring slightly compressed. The spring is about 14" long and the inner shaft thru the spring is 12", so some compression is needed.
Now that the assembly is out, I can do the repair to the end spring plate and install a new 5/16" rod.
Q: Am I correct thinking that the spring assembly is in a "relaxed" position during installation?
Stock49 it sounds like you have been down this road before. Thanks very much for the help.

Apache59

Hi Apache59 . . .

I was mistaken. I been down this road but not on this car.

I just looked at my car and the Fisher body manual. This a compression setup - not a tension set up - so that over extension technique I described doesn't apply.

With thunk lid raised to its highest point, the spring assembly should neither push or pull on that back pin. The service manual doesn't mention a need to compress the spring to install.

In looking at my car this morning over coffee it seems that the weight of the lid just starts to compress the spring (with the lid open at rest). And if you pull up on the lid the length of the spring assembly acts like a check link - preventing you from raising it to high. In between these two positions there doesn't seem to be any load on that back pin.

The old car manual project has the Fisher Body manual for 49 online:
Page 47
Page 91
Page 92

regards,
stock49

stock49-
Thanks very much for posting the pictures of the trunk lid hinge from the Fisher Body manual AND that great website http://www.chevy.tocmp.com/ Old Online Chevy Manuals. I will set up a link from our website since it covers LOTS of Chevy years and model.
After removing the hinge/spring assembly, I found that the hinge pin was worn egg-shape so had to grind out the shoulder rivet and install a suitable shoulder bolt with locking nut.
My original problem was a broken pin at the inside location but it was still holding the spring by half the pin. I do not see any way to not compress the spring for installation. The spring is 16" long and must compress to 12". To do this, I built a 2x4/2x6 wood form to cradle the spring. I will use thread stock to compress the spring while safety wires are in place to hold the compressed spring. At this point, the hinge bar can be inserted in the spring and the installation can proceed per the Fisher Manual. What a learning process! Thanks for the great tips and links.

apache59

Sounds like you've figured out a way to put the spring in without removing the hinge-bar/lid-mount.

In studying the manual and my car it looks as if the engineers designed this for the spring to be attached to hinge-bar/lid-mount while removed from the spring box.

Now the spring can be inserted into the box and the back pin can be installed. Next one could use hinge-bar/lid-mount to compress the spring enough to insert the front pin.