Replace hinges on Rev. A

[MacDanielsen]

Hi friends,

I have a Rev. A with broken hinges and since it has a small dent in the righthand side, Apple woun't fix it (I have already had a fierce discussion with Apple regarding this matter, so please no comments about extended warranty ;-)

On eBay it is possible to buy a set of new hinges including the grey piece of plastic that breaks with the hinges. Is it possible to replace the hinges on a Rev. A with these spares?

Would love to keep my Air as second machine beside a iMac 27" or Mac Pro.

Thanks

 

[GoCubsGo]

You may be able to find a MBAir for parts. Did you try ifixit.com?

 

[MacDanielsen]

iFixit doesn't have the hinges only.

Found these: http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-MacBook-Air...ultDomain_0&hash=item230b1c293d#ht_500wt_1156

Don't know if it's possible at all to replace them?

 

[MacDanielsen]

No one tried to replace their hinges?

 

[silverblack]

I had Applecare, and it covered the repair of my broken hinge. It turned out the job involved replacing, not just the hinge, but the entire screen and top half of the computer. This is why Apple won't repair it as soon as they see signs indicating the computer had been dropped. This is also why you'll not find the parts on ebay - because you need to buy the entire top. You are better off trying to find a water-damaged (with dead logic board) one on ebay and strip it for parts.

 

[crx7]

I guess I got lucky. Mine has a dent as well from dropping it. Had to unbend it for the screen to open, and in the process I loosened up the hinges. Lived with it like this for a year thinking it wasn't covered.

Walked into a very busy Apple Store at a high end mall last month and got it fixed with no questions asked. Maybe try another store... on a Saturday afternoon...

 

[Synchromesh]

No one tried to replace their hinges?

I have before. I highly suggest you try another 2-3 stores before you do it yourself. It's a very complicated process and even if you are able to pull it off on the first try chances are your machine won't look like it did before.

Just to give in idea of what you need to go through:

1. open up the Air
2. disconnect battery
3. carefully undo a whole bunch of screws that hold upper shell to lower shell, including annoying tiny antenna screws
4. separate shells
5. carefully undo bottom part of screen bezel as per videos on youtube - by far hardest part where it's easy to screw up
6. unscrew old hinges, replace with new ones
7. reverse from step 5 back to 1

Not a procedure for faint at heart especially if you care about how it looks in the end because removing the bezel tends to cause wrinkles on it.

 

[stewie1]

Is there a definitive answer as to whether the repaired hinges are reinforced or strengthened in any way? I asked the genius today and he had no idea.