just had it happen to my 96. driver door bottom hinge. the only thing that gets me is that these doors are still quite solid. just barely starting to rust (little more than surface) where the skin wraps around the frame along the bottom. NO holes or anything yet.
I thought most that had this issue the doors were otherwise rotten, this one is NOT.
I have a pair of NICE doors from an 87 that I have been wanting to swap in but was hoping to wait til I get my wife's Durango back on road, when one of my Dakotas becomes an "extra" around here..... and I can AFFORD the down time. right now both Dakotas are driven daily.... one by me the other by my wife.
issue with swapping... my 96 is refrigerator white, 87 parts are off white (I think they called it shell white or something like that back then) enough "off" to stick out if they were same color it would be no brainer....
87 doors are bare shells, would need to swap in EVERYTHING from original door. 87 doors were manual 96 is power. no biggie except the TIME factor. OR should I remove original door and set it on sawhorses, weld it up and reinstall original door "for now"? YES I have a nice industrial MIG and know how to use it.....
Ultimately, I want to remove bed and paint (or have painted) the cab, because this one has a bad case of "the peels" on hood and roof, original primer showing...…. I do plan on this one being my "keeper" over my '92, when that day comes that one or the other, has to "go away" because this one is 3.92 geared, and 4wd..... and I rebuilt the front and rear diffs including a brand new Track lok about 15K miles ago when/because I decided then that this one would be the "keeper", IF and when that day comes....
and why I am driving the 92 and leave the 96 for her.... I drive 70+ miles//day.... she drives 22-25 miles/day.... helps slow down the buildup of miles..... but this one being 4 years newer and 20K lower miles, is the one to break..... makes no sense.

 

I'd weld that sucker up if it were me, and swap them out later when you can afford the downtime.

 

well... just got the driver side door/fender swapped out, gotta take the bumper off to get the fender off, gotta take the fender off to get the door hinge bolts off.... still gotta change the window regulator as my truck is a power window/lock truck, donor was crank windows.
my replacements came from a CLEAN 87 in the junkyard, so clean especially for Chicagoland, it made me sick to see it in the yard, JY marked "runs/drives" on it there is NO way in He11 that I would have junked that thing, no way, no how.... it was a 3.9/5 speed. only tear for carbureted 3.9.

 

I wanted to do both doors and fenders at the same time, but since I have to replace the pass side rocker (only about the front-most 5 inches at that) which will take more time than I have available to donate to this cause this weekend I will have to tackle that side another day.
I'm waiting for my son to finish his motor swap in his Ramcharger so I can have my lift and my garage back..... would be so much easier to cut and weld on my rockers with the truck at eye level than laying in a gravel driveway...….

 

This can be prevented by ensuring the spring rod and star wheel (no friggen clue what they're actually called) on the lower hinge are well greased and the star wheel isn't seized and actually rotates as you close the door instead of dragging against the rod. I use wheel bearing grease or something similarly thick.

I have a driver's door with not a lick of even surface rust and it had the lower hinge welded by the previous owner. Looks like it was welded properly and seems super solid now. I just got another Dak for a parts truck and both doors make a tremendous snapping noise when closing (wheels stuck and no grease), the driver's door hinge is about to give way.

 

this door does seem to open/close a bit easier than the original one did before it broke, though that door didn't close very hard at all....

 

One other source is that the hinge bushings can fail, and then it won't properly toggle the star wheel.

BTDT; had to get the lower hinge rewelded before it broke free on my driver's side door.

RwP