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I have a bi-fold door which uses door hinge that connects two doors of the bi-fold door. It has three hinges and two of them require some work as follows:

  1. Hinge 1 - The pin is missing entirely. enter image description here
  2. Hinge 2 - The pin is loose. enter image description here It will be my first experience working with door hinge, but believe that it is doable work and not require a professional worker's involvement.

Is it a good idea to replace the entire hinge or just the pin?

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    Can you show a picture of the current hinges....up close and focused? – Michael Karas♦ Feb 20 at 14:46
  • I believe that hinge has a spacer that should go in the middle. It looks like that door was removed at one point and then replace but lost the pin and spacers in the process. – ratchet freak Feb 20 at 15:04
  • @MichaelKaras I have added the images of hinges. Pardon me for delay. Lost the network for few minutes. – GC 13 Feb 20 at 15:25
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    The hinge you picture that has the "loose pin" actually just has a small diameter threaded bolt stuck in there for a makeshift pin. The pictures fully convince that replacement is in order. Best strategy is to take the doors down and lay them flat when installing the new hinges. – Michael Karas♦ Feb 20 at 15:32
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If you can find the same style of hinges it may just be the easiest to replace the hinges with new ones. For the smaller bi-fold door hinges it is unlikely that you can find replacement parts and new hinges are not all that expensive.

The most likely reason the one hinge pin is loose is because the hinge itself has deformed and not due to wear of the pin itself. Once again suggesting replacement.

You may find that replacement hinges have the screw holes in different locations than the originals. This would not normally be a problem because you can easily drill new pilot holes for the screws at the new locations. However sometimes a new hole will be right next to one of the old holes. If this happens it is recommended to fill the old hole with a glued in plug carved to the right size from a piece of scrap pine board (some folks like to stuff the hole up with glue and toothpicks). Pound the plug in place and let dry overnight and then cut off flush with a sharp chisel.

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  • Is there any good design to pick for the hinge for long lasting solution? – GC 13 Feb 20 at 19:17
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    @GC13 - I am not sure I can recommend anything. The hinges that you have are labeled with the "Johnson" trademark. I googled for "Johnson Hinges" and found their web site. None of their current offerings look like a match to what you seem to have. From your pictures it is not clear if the current hinges fit only against the inside of the door panels or if part of the hinge actually may fold over to fit in the door crack between the two panels when they are in the closed position. Maybe you can look at their offerings and decide if anything there is worth considering, – Michael Karas♦ Feb 21 at 2:59
  • Thank you @michael karas. I replaced the hinges successfully. – GC 13 Mar 15 at 14:03
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Those two hinge sets are 4 individuals left halfs form 4 hinge sets. They don't mesh together well and will always give you problems. Replacing them is very easy. Just make sure to be accurate, pre drill without going through and have an extra set of hands nearby if you need someone to hold while you measure.

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