95 Jetta coupe sagging driver door?

I have a 95 Trek [MIII/A3/Vento for the search engines] and the driver door is sagging.

The latch doesn't line up anymore, I have to lift the door somewhat when closing it. The gap between the hinge-side and the front fender disappears to nothing at the bottom (they're effectively touching, which I know is bad bad bad).

I want to properly adjust it at the hinges, as opposed to reefing on the door or jacking a semi-open door up to bend it up -- which I understand is risky and not permanent from the Googling I've been doing.

But the hinge bolts I need to get at (that attach to the body, not the door) are behind the arm of the hinge and impossible to reach. To adjust I'd need to either remove the door, adjust, attach the door and pray I got it right (ouch) or remove the front left fender (ouch).

Any ideas how I can do this properly? I couldn't find anything in the Hayes manual (and I don't have the Bentley, I'm too poor). How tough is it to remove the fender?

Thanks in advance for any help!

-A

Reply to
akowal
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If you can lift the door, then either the bolts are loose, or the hinge is just bad, open the door and lift it while looking at the hinge assembly to see where the movement really is, if its just the bolt being loose then you just need to tighten it, if its bad then replace it, otherwise you'll be trying to adjust it again in a month.

If you need to replace the hinge (or take it off the doror to tighten it, get something like a milk crate and some cardboard you can fold to create a stand for your door. just keep adding cardboard (or folding it) to get the height where the door sits on its own . This way you can unbolt the hinge from the door, and move it out just enough to do what needs doing, and without having to worry about all your door wiring. Plus its alot ewasier on the back.

Reply to
E

Reply to
akowal

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