Doors: 73-76 different than 77-87??? huh?

[75stepside]

okay... here's the deal... i bought a '75 stepside w/ a set of replacement doors... i sold them off to a fellow board member b/c i got my new cab (from an '84) and it has good GM doors on it. so, now i'm thinkin' are the doors made for the cabs? are the 73-76 cabs a lil different from the 77-87 cabs? in Chevyduty, they list different part numbers for the 73-76 doors, than the 77-87 doors.

...just wonderin'!

[MOUSE]

There the same. Different part #'s enable companies to sell whichever door/part is "in higher demand" for a larger sum....

[1974ChevyC10]

the door shells themselves are the same....its the door panels and internals that are different.

[ElGracho]

Woah woah woah!!! These doors are far from the same. 1974ChevyC10 has it kinda close, but the door stampings themselves are different to support the different door panel styles on the interior. Pictures coming...

As far as the cabs or the outsides of the doors, the newer doors can be bolted to the older cabs or vice versa. The door stampings do dictate what interior panels you will be able to use though.

[ElGracho]

Here are the pics...

1973-1976 Door


1977-1987 Door


Notice how the door panel is smaller on the earlier doors and the metal stamping is raised around the panel. The 77 and up stampings don't have this raised portion and the interior panels are not interchangable.

[1974ChevyC10]

el gracho what i was saying is the 73-76 door panels mount differently than the 77-87 door panels and cant be swapped over.ive had two 78's and my current 74 and the door panels are vastly different.i personally like the looks of the 73-76 door panels better myself but the door panels on my 78's were easier to remove.i also meant the basic door shells are the same before getting into the internals and panel mountings on the doors.

[ElGracho]

Well, my point was if you buy a 74 door and expect to put it on you 86 Silverado, you are going to be sorely pi$$ed when there is no possible way to put your interior parts on that door shell.

[bigblock73]

FYI

73-76 door guts are different from 77-80 guts. I tried to put my 73 windows/cranks in the 77-80 doors I bought...although they physically fit, the 73 cranks were too short and would not clear the 77-80 door panles I bought.

My advice, stick with the same year doors as you already have or use the same year accessories as the door...mixing and matching usually doesn't work.

-Jeff

[rustedchevy]

77 was the year of the new power windows option availability, they probably changed them that year for that reason,

[Captkaos]

Doors changed in 77 because of power motor mounting. That and they changed the size/mounting of the door panels.
73-76

77-91


Cabs change only in enhancements/improvements, no drastic departures from the norm.............in comparison to doors.

[BigRed]

Originally posted by bigblock73
FYI

73-76 door guts are different from 77-80 guts. I tried to put my 73 windows/cranks in the 77-80 doors I bought...although they physically fit, the 73 cranks were too short and would not clear the 77-80 door panles I bought.

My advice, stick with the same year doors as you already have or use the same year accessories as the door...mixing and matching usually doesn't work.

-Jeff

Yes, Jeff is definitely right. I tried to put '78 or '79 door panels on my '75 and they didn't fit right. The panels were on the '78 were taller, the window crank on my '75 was shorter, and the arm rest on my '75 wasn't long enough to support the arm rest.

You may, however, be able to have some custom panels made if you don't want to have to search for new doors. I've seen them done very tastefully.

[Mdapperdan]

Question, Are the rear doors on a sub/3+3 the same as the cab doors? on the '73-'80 Chev/GMC trucks?
I mean the Interior panels.