door closing alignment issues..

[bguild]

I have a 67 truck that I just got some good used doors for.. I have the front clip off and I am getting ready to repair the cab.. I put my new doors on to make sure I could get them aligned with the cab floors bad.. I want to make sure when I start welding the floor that my cab isnt out of wack and its aligned right.. I just bolted them up and the door is hitting the striker plate on the cab.. I played with it a little and its like the cab is out of true and the doors are a 1.4 off --- the seem to be way to far fwd and the just hit the metal of the plate and the will not close.. They do it on both sides so it almost is like I am doing something wrong.. I am tempted to buy a better cab anyway and want to make sure I should do that. Please let me know your suggestions because I will have time tomorrow night to play with them and I want to make sure my cab isnt f'd up before i weld my floors. I am a rookie at this and have never aligned doors so I know its just me screwing up but who knows maybe this is rusted beyond repair.

[Blue'72]

Could it be that the strikers need to be adjusted? They can be loosened and moved around some.

[bguild]

well I dont know maybe.. but it looks like the styker plates just hit the latch in the wrong place.. like the doors need to moved a 1/4 inch back towards the bed.. I tried to do it quickly and cant even get close.. I am just worried maybe something is way out of alignment on the cab.. I need all new floors and rockers anyway so it might be better to buy the 500 dollar one I found that is already finished sitting in primer about 40 min from here.
I just dont want to completly take the cab off and get rid of it and figure out how to get the new one here if I dont have too. But if it will save me tons of time and money and headaches I might as well fork the 500 bones and get the one already done.

[Luvlegs]

If you don't have any floor in, connecting the firewall to the rear of the cab, and the rear of the cab is moved (moving) away from the firewall.... that could be the issue.. can't tell how much floor you have out (if any)

[67ChevyRedneck]

The striker plates have several shims behind them. Remove a shim or two on the top and bottom, see if that helps. The striker plates also have enough "play" to move up/down, in/out.

The tolerances on these trucks were TERRIBLE back in the day. I measured a door from my 67 and one from my dad's 67, and there was an 1/8" difference in the width of the doors!

[bguild]

Thanks guys for all the help.. The floors are bad but not really bad. The rockers and cab corners are gone and then the floor is gone about 2 inches in or so.. The cab inner kick area is also rusted through. It can be repaired but by looking at i wouldnt think the cab could shift that much but again the truck is 40 years old.. I am leaning on trying to raise 500 bucks and buying the one that is done.. Then I can just have it painted and bolt the thing on.
Anyway I will play with them tomorrow night but still not sure what I am doing but I will wing it.

[sjarrett71]

I think I would seriously consider buying the good cab for 500 bucks. If ALL the body work is done and it's in primer, it sounds like a good deal. It would save you a TON on time and probably be cheaper in the long run.

[bguild]

That is what I am starting to think.

[Ace in the hole]

got the same issue with my cab right now. I'm going to do it the hard way and keep my cab but my doors are off just a touch too. Not quite a 1/4" like yours, mine will close but I do have to do some adjusting to them. I think I may need to add a shim or 2 to the cab latch plate to make it catch better. Sound like my floor was about where yours is. It has taken me a lot of hours to get it where it is and I still have a lot of work to do. It's hard replacing floor pieces when most of your alinement reference points have rusted away.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Yeah, forgot to add, look at where your striker is hitting the door latch, it is possible as Ace in the hole posted above, that your strikers need to be shimmed out some too... either condition could cause it not to close.

[bguild]

yeah that is my problem the stryker plate hits the latch and it dosent even make it to the right area to close.. I am going to play with it tomorrow night and see if I cant get it better..

[19673ontree]

I'd like to see some pictures of what you have going on , but I can say this , 67's seem to me to be a little more out of line and hard to get good looking gap's than the 68 to 72's for some reason , maybe where it's the first year ,
I LIKE TO HAVE NEVER got my door gap's to suite me when I was doing my 67
here is some old photos of my 67 under construction , it take's a lot of metalwork and bondo to get U'M to look right at home on your own !!!







you can see the door to cab fit in these pic's pretty good ,

this last one is just to make you work harder !!!

[gmc67swb]

A lot of people make the mistake of trying to adjust the door to the striker.Been doing body work for 30 years, pull your striker out align your door with the fender,cab corner,and rocker, get it in the hole where you want it then put the striker back in and adjust it to the latch. You do have plenty of play with the striker to move it up ,down ,in and out. Hope this helps....

[bguild]

Originally Posted by gmc67swb

A lot of people make the mistake of trying to adjust the door to the striker.Been doing body work for 30 years, pull your striker out align your door with the fender,cab corner,and rocker, get it in the hole where you want it then put the striker back in and adjust it to the latch. You do have plenty of play with the striker to move it up ,down ,in and out. Hope this helps....

That does help and makes total sense.. If I get the doors aligned and I have to put 1/4 of spacers I know I have issues but it makes sense to align the door then the striker. Thanks for the help.

[Green Machine]

Yes - absolutlely, remove the strikers from the cab, then adjust the doors, If possible have all of the glass and door regulators and other parts in the door, the extra weight will make the door hang just a little lower. If you are doing these on the frame, always intall new cab mounts and make sure the frame is in level spot. The top window frames can be bent in or out and even tweaked front to back a little if you need some fine tuning.

[bguild]

yeah I plan to align some tonight... I cant do new frame mounts..i just want to make sure my cab is F'd up before I decide to sell it or repair it.. There is a part of me that say buy a welder and go for it and then a part of me that says why waste the time when I cna get one done.. I am in no hurry so I am starting to lean towards just fixing what I have..
question.. When replacing the floor whats the order of putting the pieces in.. do I work on the cab mounts under neath first then the floor pans and then work my way out?

[67mater]

ttt

[Ol'Rover]

is the cab floor rotted so bad that the rockers are no longer connected if it is, (would be exactly like mine) i have to push on the back of the cab to get the door to close.