Doors don't shut right

[Jeepwm69]

Have an 83 GMC that the doors won't latch tightly on. The weatherstripping is original, and I thought that it might have shrunk a bit, allowing the doors to rattle. I also thought it might be door sag (like the 88-98) but after I looked at the doors and pulled up on the corner they don't have much play in them at all, so not sure what I should do to get these things latching properly again.

The drivers door is the worse of the two. It will latch, but not latch tightly, so it rattles as you drive.

Thanks for any advice.

[JohnC]

Adjust the striker, or replace it. It's pretty common.

[Driveway Dreams]

try that. Good luck and let us know.

[6772fan]

I would bet your door strikers are missing the round plastic sleeves that go on them. If so, you can find them at your local HELP section at the parts house. It makes a huge difference and makes the door easy to shut and latch up nicely.

[Turbo85GMC]

Once the plastic parts fell off on mine, the doors did the same thing.

[Jeepwm69]

What do these sleeves look like? I don't remember there ever being anything there other than the pin.

[JohnC]

They are a round plastic bushing/sleeve that is around the striker. Head to your local store and as stated before check out the HELP section. They should have the whole striker and just the plastic pieces

[Rain City]

YES! Just did this myself, worked awesome - Thanks guys!

[Jeepwm69]

Thanks for the help. I'll check those out and see if that fixes the problem. Won't report back for a few days. This is Dad's truck and I'm going to visit late next week.

Thanks again.

[Square84]

that should fix it but be sure to take your rear speakers out and grab the plate that the striker threads into. on mine i guess the spot welds broke so i took the striker out and the plate fell down into the cab corner and i never found it i had to get new plates from the salvage yard.

[tgh117]

A quick fix you can try to see if that helps the problem is to take some electrical tape and wrap it around 4 or 5 times and see if that tightens them up. The plastic rings always break off over time. Good luck.

[same_me]

I bought some yesterday myself. They were about $8.

[86Hoopty]

yeah, my dad put them on his 75 and it worked great

[Jeepwm69]

Originally Posted by same_me

I bought some yesterday myself. They were about $8.

Anybody got a part # for the bushings? Local autozone had bushing for Ford strikers and one GM striker pin with bushing, but no GM bushings. Guys behind the counter glazed over when I asked if the Ford bushings looked the same size as the GM bushing on the striker pin.

[JohnC]

Don't have the number for the bushings, but for the cheap price of the whole thing I just bought it all striker and bushing.

[Jeepwm69]

I'm going to get new pins, but since the plastic pieces seem to break off frequently, I figured I'd get some extra bushings too so I'd have them on hand. I'm big on "spare parts".

[ron350]

Makes me wonder how brass or aluminum striker bolt bushing would work?

[ElGracho]

You can order just the bushings from some of the common parts vendors. I got a bunch of then from Chevyduty (now classicparts).

[Square84]

Originally Posted by Jeepwm69

Anybody got a part # for the bushings? Local autozone had bushing for Ford strikers and one GM striker pin with bushing, but no GM bushings. Guys behind the counter glazed over when I asked if the Ford bushings looked the same size as the GM bushing on the striker pin.

they glazed over because if the ford bushings were the same as the gm ones then it would have said ford/gm on the package. just buy the striker bolt with the bushing already on it and be done with it.

[Jeepwm69]

Originally Posted by Square84

they glazed over because if the ford bushings were the same as the gm ones then it would have said ford/gm on the package. just buy the striker bolt with the bushing already on it and be done with it.

Originally Posted by Jeepwm69

I'm going to get new pins, but since the plastic pieces seem to break off frequently, I figured I'd get some extra bushings too so I'd have them on hand. I'm big on "spare parts".

The "ford" bushings look to be the same size as the GM bushing that comes on the striker bolt. I'll buy some and report back if they fit ok. I don't mind spending $8 on a striker bolt, but I don't want to do that every year if I can spend $1 on a bushing. Call me a tightwad, but there's an old saying "watch the pennies and the dollars take care of themselves", not to mention I don't want to throw away a perfectly good striker bolt when all it needs is a new bushing.
Also, if you go into your local napareillyzone and ask for a Ford cap, rotor, wire set, coil, and dist cap adapter, and then tell them it's for a Jeep CJ, they get that same glazed over look, but those parts all fit fine, are the same price (or less) as the factory Jeep parts, and are a big improvment in spark energy. My point in all of that is this; parts interchange from one vehicle to another, and sometimes there are cheaper or better replacement parts if you DON'T go by what the label/ the autoreillynapa computer tells you.

[Square84]

Originally Posted by Jeepwm69

The "ford" bushings look to be the same size as the GM bushing that comes on the striker bolt. I'll buy some and report back if they fit ok. I don't mind spending $8 on a striker bolt, but I don't want to do that every year if I can spend $1 on a bushing. Call me a tightwad, but there's an old saying "watch the pennies and the dollars take care of themselves", not to mention I don't want to throw away a perfectly good striker bolt when all it needs is a new bushing.
Also, if you go into your local napareillyzone and ask for a Ford cap, rotor, wire set, coil, and dist cap adapter, and then tell them it's for a Jeep CJ, they get that same glazed over look, but those parts all fit fine, are the same price (or less) as the factory Jeep parts, and are a big improvment in spark energy. My point in all of that is this; parts interchange from one vehicle to another, and sometimes there are cheaper or better replacement parts if you DON'T go by what the label/ the autoreillynapa computer tells you.

thats because the computers look parts up by the vehicle information so why would you ask for a ford cap for a jeep if you know what kinda ford it fits on why wouldn't you just ask for a cap for that model ford instead of being difficult. maybe the guy behind the counter has never owned a jeep with a ford distrib. cap on it so of course he would not know what your looking for. if i had a ford engine in my chevy truck i would not ask for chevy parts i would ask for parts to fit the ford i got the motor out of. all i'm sayin is you don't relize the ridiculous crap that guy has to put up with and then you want to bag on him because the company doesn't give him the resources to do his job properly. i don't know any person who knows everything about every car ever made never mind the frankenstien crap we do to the cars. and as far as the strikers i put new ones on my truck six years ago and the bushings and striker bolts are all in good shape.

[Jeepwm69]

Originally Posted by Square84

and as far as the strikers i put new ones on my truck six years ago and the bushings and striker bolts are all in good shape.

That's helpful, thank you.

As for the rest, you USED to be able to go to parts stores and describe what you are looking for, and the counter guys were knowledgeable enough to figure it out, or at least narrow it down. I could go into the store and say "I need a Motorcraft 2100, 1.08 venturi, electric choke" and they would go get one. Now you can even give them a part # and 1/2 the time they say "what make and model", and when you give them a make and model (in the case of the carb, I told them 79 Pinto, 6 cyl) and they bring me a 1.21 venturi carb, which isn't the right part, but they'll swear that since their computer gave them that number, that it is the correct part (the 1.21 was for 351 engines).

In the case of the striker pins, I took the pin up to the counter along with a package of ford bushings and simply asked "don't these look like they're the same size?" and got the blank, drooling stare. Most of the guys behind the counter now can run a computer, but know very little about cars. Maybe I got spoiled in the old days when the parts store counter guys actually knew a LOT about cars.

Thanks for the help. I will buy new striker pins, and I'm going to get a set of FORD bushings as well, just to see if they'll fit. I'll post back here for any future cheapskates with the same question.

[Jeepwm69]

Put new door striker on drivers side, and used a Ford bushing on the factory pin on the passenger side. NO RATTLES

The ford bushing is tight/undersized on the GM pin, but I pushed it up on there a little bit and then using the spacer/washer, screwed those up on the pin, and that pushed the bushing up onto the pin. Works fine.