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cekkk's avatar
cekkk
Explorer
Sep 18, 2014

Leer Topper Door

Not sure if this is the right forum, but after buying and installing new handles and new struts for the lift-up door on my topper this summer, the piano hinge is now coming apart on one side. The dealer is going to try to rivet it before ordering a new one. It's quite possible they'll break the glass but it's worth a try before sinking several hundred dollars into a new door.

I'm wondering if replacing the hinge is possible. The dealer says no, but there should be some alternative to replacing the entire assembly for a relatively cheap part. Any ideas or suggestions will be appreciated.
  • To update, I returned to the dealer and they put several rivets in across the door and no cracked window. $25 and 40 minutes, a pretty good deal.
  • The only problem is when drilling the holes for the rivets is to keep from hitting the glass, this can be done with a stop on a regular drill bit or with a bit made just for rivets.
    I did it once to replace some on each end I was replacing the 1/8" with 3/16" (about 3/4 each end), but the second time around I had about 3 holes left on the whole hinge when the bit (regular drill bit) I let go to far in.