Hinge pin removal tool

A method of disassembling and subsequently assembling doors to automotive vehicles, which doors are secured to said vehicles by means of hinges having first and second mutually parallel ears fixedly secured to the body of the vehicle and a third ear fixedly attached to the door and adapted to be disposed between said first and second ears, a longitudinally split, tubular hinge pin being compressed near its respective ends in mutually aligned holes in said ears and loosely extending through a hole in said third ear, said last mentioned hole being aligned with said holes in said first and second ears when said door is assembled to said vehicle, comprising the steps of

• providing a unitary rigid metal member having elongated, enlarged attachment means at one end for reception in the chuck of a fluid operated impact device, said member having at its other end a short pilot projection having an external diameter which slidably fits into said spring pin when said spring pin is compressed in said openings, said member having adjacent to said pilot projection a rectilinear, cylindrical portion having an external diameter which slidably fits into said openings and is greater than the internal diameter of said spring pin when said spring pin is compressed in said openings thereby to provide an annular shoulder adjacent said pilot projection for engaging an end of said spring pin, said member having a bend between said attachment means and said cylindrical portion such that the included angle between the principal longitudinal axes of said cylindrical portion and said attachment is no more than about 150.degree., and a stop shoulder on said rectilinear, cylindrical portion facing toward said pilot projection to limit the distance said cylindrical portion is insertable into said first or second ears, said stop shoulder being spaced from said annular shoulder by a distance less than the combined lengths of said holes,
• attaching said attachment means to a fluid operated impact device,
• inserting said pilot projection into the one end of said spring pin adjacent said first ear,
• energizing said impact device while pressing said annular shoulder against said one end of said spring pin to push said spring pin completely through said first and third ears to press said stop shoulder against said first ear,
• removing said rigid metal member from between said first and second ears and then removing said door from said vehicle without removing said spring pin from said second ear,
• subsequently assembling said door to said vehicle with said third ear positioned between said first and second ears with said holes in said ears in mutual alignment, and
• pushing said spring pin through said hole in said third ear into said hole in said first ear.