Patent Publication Number: US-6698821-B2

Title: Vehicle door mounting

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     This invention relates to vehicles and more specifically to a method and apparatus for mounting vehicle doors. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     In vehicle manufacture, doors are frequently mounted on a vehicle body and adjusted to provide a desired fit at a relatively early stage in the assembly operation. Once the door has been mounted and adjusted to provide a suitable fit, the door is removed for further processing. The further processing often includes applying a coat of finish. It also may include such further steps as mounting a window and window actuator, attaching a suitable lining, and mounting handles and an armrest. 
     With over the highway trucks, in the past doors have been mounted by connecting hinge leafs to so called nut plates disposed on the side of a mounting panel opposite a connected hinge leaf. Fasteners connecting the hinge leaf to the nut plate were left in a loosened condition while the door was manipulated to a desired adjusted position. Once in the desired position the fasteners were tightened to clamp the hinge leaf and nut plate to opposite sides of the mounting panel. If the door was removed for further processing or to facilitate a vehicle repair an operator then had to repeat the door adjustment positioning when the door was remounted. This was true because there has been no satisfactory mechanism for relocating doors in heavy duty vehicles such as class 8 over the highway trucks and tractors. 
     For service and repair within the cab of a heavy duty vehicle, there are occasions when door removal will greatly facilitate access to the site of the service or repair. In the past remounting of the door following such service or repair has required replication of the door adjustment performed during manufacture. Not only is such replication time consuming, it is seldom performed as well as the initial alignment during manufacture. This is because persons who align doors in manufacture do it repeatedly and if they do not do it well soon find themselves replaced by others. People who perform service and repair on vehicles on the other hand are selected for their repair skills, not their alignment skills, and do not have the benefit of repetitive opportunities to improve their skills. 
     Many vehicle and manufacturing processes and mechanisms have been proposed for facilitating relocation of a removed door in the adjusted position that had been achieved prior to door removal. The mechanisms that have been proposed are often complicated and typically are unsuited for use on heavy duty vehicles such as over the highway trucks and tractors. Moreover, many of the mechanisms used for relocating doors add weight to a vehicle. Every pound of weight added to an over the highway tractor reduces by one pound the lawful payload which can be transported with the tractor. When one considers that an over the highway tractor typically is operated for the order of 500,000 miles and that for many applications haulage charges are a function of the weight of a payload, a pound of vehicle weight translates into a loss of 250 ton miles of cargo over the life of the vehicle. 
     Accordingly it would be desirable to provide an inexpensive light weight system for facilitating the relocation of a door in an adjusted position after a door has been removed from a vehicle cab. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     With a device made in accordance with a present invention, a locator is mounted on one side of a mounting panel and connected to a nut plate on the opposite side of the panel. The locator and the hinge leaf have complemental surfaces that fix the two in a constant relative position as positioning adjustment is made. The fastener connecting the locator is left in a loosened condition until the door has been moved to an adjusted position and the nut plate and hinge leaf have been clamped against opposite sides of the panel. The fastener securing the locator is then tightened to fix the locator in an adjusted position. 
     When a door is subsequently removed for further processing or for access to the cab during servicing and repair the fastener securing the locator in place is left untouched so that the locator is maintained in its adjusted position. When a door is remounted the hinge leaf is positioned to reengage the complemental surfaces of the hinge leaf and the locator thereby relocating the hinge leaf in the previously attained adjusted position. The mounting fasteners are then reinserted and tightened to complete the remounting of the door in its adjusted position. Preferably each hinge leaf of a set of hinges supporting a door is equipped with complemental surfaces that coact with an associated locator. Thus if there are upper and lower hinges an operator returning a door to its mounted position on a vehicle cab locates each hinge leaf by coaction with that hinge leaf&#39;s associated locator 
     Accordingly the objects of the invention are to provide a novel and improved mechanism for facilitating removal and reinstallation of vehicle doors and a process of doing so. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a somewhat schematic view of an over the highway truck or tractor; 
     FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a conventional and prior nut plate, hinge leaf and mounting panel; 
     FIG. 3 is an exploded sectional view showing the improved leaf and locator of the present invention as the leaf is being removed from, or returned to, its mounted position on the panel; and 
     FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing the hinge arrangement of the present invention in a door mounted condition. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring to the drawings and FIG. 1 in particular, an over the highway tractor is shown generally at  10 . The tractor includes the usual cab  12  which is fitted with an access door  14 . The door is mounted by a pair of hinges  16  which are positioned one above the other. As will be apparent and is well known, the door  14  provides access to an occupant&#39;s space  18  within the cab  12 . 
     Referring now to FIGS. 2-4 a mounting post  20  is provided. As may be seen by examination of FIGS. 2-4, the mounting post is an interior structure hidden by an external body panel  22 . With the prior art as shown in FIG. 2 a nut plate  24  is mounted on the mounting post  20  and maintained in a connected relationship by mounting clips  25 . The clips  25  project through nut plate apertures  26  which surround the clips in space relationship. Thus while the hinge mounting plate in the form of a nut plate  24  is connected to the post  20 , it is moveable with respect to the post over an adjustment range. The adjustment range of the nut plate permits the nut plate and the hinge  16  to be moved for adjustment positioning. Once the hinge and leaf are in a desired position they are secured in place by tightening fasteners  28 . 
     Referring now to FIGS. 3 and 4 a modified mounting post  30  is provided. The modified post  30  differs from the post  20  in that a locating aperture  32  is provided. A locator  34  is connected to a modified nut plate  35  by a fastener  36  coacting with a nut  37  welded to the plate  35 . Thus the locator  34  is connected to the modified nut plate  35  such that the locator will move with the modified nut plate as the modified nut plate is moved through its range of adjustment. 
     A hinge leaf  38  is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. The hinge leaf includes a through bore  40  of cylindrical configuration. A circular counterbore  42  is formed on the mounting post side of the hinge leaf plate  38  in axial alignment with the bore  40 . The cylindrical surfaces of the bore  40  and counterbore  42  are complemental with corresponding surfaces  44  of the locator  34 . Thus, when the hinge leaf  38  is mounted over the locator  34  as shown in FIG. 4, the hinge plate and locator are in a fixed relative position. The fastener  36  fixes the nut plate and the locator in an adjusted position by clamping them against opposed surfaces of the post  30 . The fasteners  28  fix the hinge leaf to the nut plate when the vehicle is in condition for use for its intended purpose. 
     Operation 
     In mounting a door an operator first makes sure that the fastener  36  is loose in order that the locator  34  and the connected nut plate  35  are free to move throughout their common adjustment range. A door is then positioned for mounting to close the access opening to the occupant space  18 . Each hinge leaf  38  is manipulated until the associated locator  34  projects into the through bore  40  and the counter bore  42 . The bolts  38  are connected to the nut plate  35  and left in a loosened condition in order that the hinge plate, nut plate and locator may be moved in unison through the adjustment range relative to the post  30  until located in the desired position. Once the door is located in the desired position the locator fastener  36  and the hinge fasteners  28  are tightened to secure the door in its adjusted position. 
     Once it is determined that the door has been appropriately positioned for both appearance and aerodynamics the door is removed for further processing such as by adding finish and installing a window and its elevating mechanism. The door removal is accomplished by disconnecting the hinge fasteners  28  from the nut plate while the locator fastener  36  is maintained in its tightened condition so that the nut plate and locator remain fixed relative to the mounting post  30 . 
     When the door is to be reinstalled an operator simply aligns each hinge leaf  38  with its associated locator  34  and positions the leaf such that the locator projects into the bore  40 . The hinge fasteners  28  are reconnected to the nut plate  35  and tightened. 
     Should a service person wish to enhance access to the occupant space  18  that person simply disconnects the fasteners  28  from the nut plate  35  and removes the door. The locator fastener  36  is maintained in its tightened condition in order that the nut plate  35  and the locator  34  remain clamped against the post  30  to maintain their adjusted positions. The reinstallation of the door following the service is the same as the reinstallation during manufacture. One simply positions the door such that the locators  34  each project into the bore and counter bore  40 ,  42  of an associated hinge leaf  38 . 
     Although the invention has been described in its preferred form with a certain degree of particularity, it is understood that the present disclosure of the preferred form has been made only by way of example and that numerous changes in the details of construction, operation and the combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.