Door weight capacity

[KaLvan]

We have a Chevy Express passenger van. It has barn style doors on the side and in the back. We want to build maybe a shelf or table that folds out of it or build in some storage compartments in the door. We are curious to how much weight the door hinges can safely bear. I see a lot of people put a fold out table and a cook stove which then would have a pot with something in it, so obviously it can hold a fair amount of weight but anybody have an idea specifically how much we can put on that without ruining the hinges? Thanks.

 

[user 423]

You would need to have a very large pot of something to damage those hinges.

Many vans have heavy spare tires mounted on the rear doors with no problem.

The hinges are very sturdy.

 

[Scott3569]

Certainly agree with Slowday, you would need to have a lot of weight to bust those hinges

 

[VanFan]

Somewhat disagree (as they say in surveys).  Express hinges are a little different in design.  It's been a looong time since I looked into this (for the same reason as the OP), but searching online for things like "Express van hinge problems..." yielded a number of cautionary tales.  You will be in and out of those doors A LOT, and want them to function flawlessly.  Not saying you can't do it, but a little more research might pay off.  (I might have hung a spare tire or a/c on a rear door, but again, we use them constantly.)

YMMV.