align door

[bbqman69]

Hey! I have a 71 W100, picked up a door from junkyard and installed it, the door latch and door post dont line up properly, is there a better way to get door to align rather than unbolting everything and putting washers in? anyone with experience in this area? Thanks

[motomatt383]

we need Jim that does the resto CD to give us a seminar!! the doors on his truck shut sweeter than the doors on a brand new Caddy!!!


matt

he gave me a few pointers for doing mine, i haven't done them yet so i don't want give advise on something i know NOTHING about.

[bbqman69]

matt,
im still new guy, im not familiar with Jim, How can I summon the great one?

[motomatt383]

i was hoping he would chime in, "Jims68" where are you????


matt

[MountainMoparRobin]

There are multiple adjustment points, but even my passenger side practically shuts by itself

[Codger]

(EDIT) 3-17-08— I was studying my manual, realized that I was thinking of newer vehicle hinges and
had some things backwards. I changed them to match for a bug-eyed 61- 64-1/2 model truck. I think 65-and-up
Sweptlines are the same... The only difference may be what happens when you move which side of the
hinge. Everything else is the same and it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out.

Making a door fit is kind of a chess game. A hinge has two sets of bolts, one at the door and one at the post. You have to envision which way they need to move with the door closed. But you have to adjust them with the door open. The trick is to adjust one side of a hinge at a time. And remember that when you move something it changes at least two things —but that’s usually a good thing.

If the door is sticking out or in too far at the top or bottom, you adjust it with the side of the hinge that bolts to the cowl post. If a gap or the latch is out of whack, you adjust them by moving the hinge where it bolts to the door.You can just yank it one way or the other or pry it with a 2X4 instead of loosening bolts but you don’t know where the door will bend. It can fix one thing and make another thing worse (instead of fixing two things, or four).

The door always goes on before the fender. You align a door by the cab corner, rocker panel and the top window frame. If the fender hasn’t been moved and it lined up before, you can, tentatively, use it for alignment. But if the door can’t be made to fit the fender and the cab corner and the rocker at the same time, or if it doesn’t close properly, then the fender could be off.

(EDIT) 3-17-08— The door also can be aligned with the cowl on these trucks and the window frame
is adjustable relative to the door. So, the main, square part of the door can be pretty much aligned
front, back, and bottom, even without a fender. If the window frame doesn’t fit after the door is
aligned it can be adjusted separately.

Once you have it adjusted fairly close, you need the door to latch without any strain so you can see all of the gaps. First decide if the door needs to go up or down to match the door latch. Or watch at the cab corner to see if the door is being pulled up or down when it latches. Look at the body lines to see if the latch post is pulling the door TOO FAR up or down. (In that case you’d have to move the latch post first)

But first, look at the fender/door gap (before the latch catches the door and moves it) and decide if the gap is too wide at top or bottom. Or look at the window frame at the top or the rocker gap at the bottom.

Say, for instance, your door needs to go up at the latch and the crack at the fender is too wide at the top. Open the door, loosen the top hinge at the door (not on the cowl post). Move the door forward a little, tighten one or two bolts and try the door.

If the gap had been too narrow at the bottom, you could have moved the bottom of the door toward the rear to do the same thing. There are clues everywhere. When you move the door, where the hinge bolts to the door, it changes the rocker gap, the window frame gap, the cab corner gap and the fender gap. Study all of the gaps. If you can fix three things by moving something it’s probably the right move.

Then decide if the door matches the cab corner. Does it stick out, or is it too far in at the bottom or at the top? Loosen one hinge at a time from the post (not the door) and move it out/in. Make small adjustments, tighten one bolt and close the door and see how it fits. Remember, when you move the top or bottom in or out, it changes at the fender and the cab corner. Line it up with the cab corner and then move the fender if it doesn’t match at the front.

You may have to move one edge out AND one edge in. (OR forward/back or up/down) When you do one, it can change the other a little - so don’t tighten all the bolts completely until you’ve got everything close. You want them all fairly snug, though — they can change everything when you tighten them at the end, but by then you’ll know how to fix it.

[Jims68]

Jackie Gleason was the "Great one" (Remember that?) anyway, I just PM'ed BBQman so I can email him that picture of door alignment. Seems... like that I did post that a LOOOOONNNNNGG time ago.

Codger makes some very good points. However, the reason I am posting this now is because, I ALREADY had typed this up off line. So... rather than me wasting my time, here it is:

First, make sure your cab mounts are solid. OR at least not rusted completely away. The cab sitting on the frame has alot to do with the way the door will close. IF the mounts are weak and flexible, then your doors will always be somewhat sloppy too, even if they adjust right, they will always be on the move. THEN, I think that the first secret is having "decent" hinges. They can have a small amount of play, just not a rediculous amount. First, ask yourself, how is the gap at the back of the door. This is a point where ONLY the door can be adjusted. So, the trickis to adjust the door to the rear of the cab, NOT the fender. For all you know, the fender is way out of alignment too. If the door is out of alignment, then, I recommend removing the striker first. This allows you to adjust the door, and not worry about it latching or BUMPING/SLAMMING into the striker. Usually, you can get the adjustment you need out of the bottom hinge. Remove the small access cover and you will see 3 bolts. Crack 2 really loose, and one of them a little loose, then, if your door moves, it is too loose. Tighten it till the door will only move with a bit of "umph". With the door like that, with the door as far closed as it can go with you grabbing the bottom rear corner, give the door a hefty jolt/lift from the rear corner. IF the door stays, snug up the bolts. Then, test fit. Watch the top of the door frame to make sure it isn't hitting the windshield post. IF it didn't look like anything happened, then you probably need to loosen the bolts a tad more. Now, if it is too hard to do by yourself, then have a friend sit inside the cab with the 3 bolts loose. Then, raise the door, and have him tighten the bolts while your holding it up. I might want to say, you "MAY" need to adjust the TOP hinge forward too. This raises the back of the door up. After you get the door fitting the gap nice, THEN you can re-attach the striker and adjust the striker to the door. NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND!


Here is what I have on my CD about adjusting doors, some may repeat itself with the above paragraph:

OK, first of all, you shouldn't need to "slam" the door. These doors work fine if all is adjusted well. My doors will just close and "click" shut smoothly. First, you need to check the lock wheel.

With the door open, Hold in on your button and see if the wheel on the lock turns freely. It should turn freely without binding or catching. Then, let go of the button and see if the wheel "catches". It should not turn easily now. It should CLICK, for each "tooth".

If your lock does not work correctly, then you may need to pull it out of your door, and clean and lube it. Also, make sure nothing is broken or bent. I cleaned my locks, and lubed them with the white lithium grease.

IF your lock is working correctly, then check to see how the lock is matching up to your striker. If your door is sagging alot, and you want to just fix the door to close, remove the lower access panel, and loosen the 3 bolts, lift the door just a bit, as a little bit moves the door alot. IF you need hinge pins, fix those with new ones, then re-adjust your door. IF you have the door adjusted up now, check to see if your door lines are lining up with the rear post. OK, so now you know your lock works fine, your door is adjusted and aligned with your post. You will need to adjust the striker. These can be a real mess to adjust. I bet I have well over an hour on each door of adjustments. You also will need to make sure that you have enough shims behind the striker too. This needs to fit inside that lock. Mine did hit the lock and I needed to add shims to move it out so it would fit inside the lock when it closes. Also, the striker should look level, and not pointing up or down. The plastic slide that is in the lock should move in and out, but it should just touch the top of the striker and not really drag on it. Don't move the striker too high either, or this will cause the door to hit the bottom of the striker, and raise the door after the striker catches. SO, to make adjustments to the striker make sure the door fits the door frame perfectly, then, with the striker semi tight, close the door easily and see if it is catching nicely, if it is, tighten the screws, and close the door. IF not, tap the striker with a hammer up or down so the door will catch. IF it is catching correctly and the door is sticking out a bit, tap the striker in. Do the opposite if the door closes too far. I hope this helps you get your doors aligned and working as good as mine.



I just talked to another guy about adjusting his door, and to get his "FIT" right, he needed to put a shim between the door hinge and the post. This immediatly told me that somwhere his cab had been in an accident, so, I mentioned this to him and sure enough... it was bent.

Hope this helps.

Jim

[motomatt383]

thank you, matt

[Jims68]

Hey Matt, does any of that sound familier?? Your welcome!

Jim

[bbqman69]

Guys...you are awsome! didn't realize there were soo many things to do on doors! Mine no longer have to be slammed or such, just close almost as good as a new cadillac! Thank you.

[steven]

Guys...you are awsome! didn't realize there were soo many things to do on doors! Mine no longer have to be slammed or such, just close almost as good as a new cadillac! Thank you.

Good to hear. Most people dont realize how easy they close when adjusted correctly. I did it before I started tearing mine apart, and I couldnt believe it, either.

[Jims68]

That is good news!!

Jim

[auggy1932]

I have a '67 which I had the doors off of several times to rebuilt the lower corners and had extreme difficulty since I had to remove the door to also reinforce the post in the hinge area.
The second time to make it easier to install weather stripping. On the second time I measured the distance between the bottom of the door and threshold/step and cut a board to the same thickness and laid it on the threshold, slipped the door on the already installed hinges and aligned the door with the opening using thin slivers of wood for shims around the frond and back of door. Entered the cab thru the other door and installed the bolts and pushed down on the hinges in the door mounts to take up any wear slack while tightening the bolts. Also used a 1/32 inch shim stuck to the top of the stricker plate when tightening the bolts to take up slack from the slight sagging effect of the weight of the door and what may be left due to hinge wear. Removed the shims and board and had a very bare minimum adjustment in the stricker plate to complete the installation to a very near perfect fit. Sounds like a lot of trouble with the wood shims and all but it was worth it when working alone..

[surfnuke9]

this is GREAT info.

my drivers door is way off. will have to try this out so I can just "click it and forgit it" too

[moparman64]

i had a buddy hold mine while i adjusted the bolts at the hinge a few hundred times to get mine to fit right. somebody that had the truck before me welded the latch catch to the cab, on the door frame (so no adjusting here) i had to beat on it with a hammer to get it to shut right. it was wearing into the body line,at the front of the door,on the cab. now it closes like new. (barely have to push it closed)