door alignment help please.

[jlaird]

I was wondering if you guys could give me some help on aligning my door. This is the first time I've ever done this, so I'm kind of stumped at what I should do next. I have the rocker in with just two sheetmetal screws at this point, but that actually looks really good so I'm not worried about that.

1. OK, my first issue is with the A-pillar. As you can see in the picture, the door a-pillar is not sitting flush the cab A-pillar. At the top left corner it comes out. Rear door to cab and door to rocker all sit flush, so I'm guessing something got tweaked at some point. Also these are not the doors that are original to the cab. What I have in my mind to fix this is to make a couple slits in the door pillar to lean it back. Is this a good idea or not? I also need to know how far the pillar is supposed to come out in relation to the cab. Is it supposed to be flush or should it sit back a little? On the cab there is that lip that comes out a little and i'm not sure if the door is supposed to be flush with this or if it should sit slight back from it.

2. Second problem is the upper right corner of the door to cab is really tight compared to everything else.(see picture) I feel like I have it as close as I can get it, however the gap at the rear of the door is 3/8" which I'm thinking is too big. But moving the whole door rearward is not an option because of the problem in the corner mentioned above. I have no idea what to do with this problem.

3. Last problem is the bottom of the door is bowed about a 12" length.(see picture with straight edge) My buddy said to use a shrinking hammer to fix it. Is that what I should do?

Hopefully most of this makes sense. I would REALLY appreciate any help. I also wanted to mention that the cab is on a wood dolly. Am I asking for trouble by not having the cab on the frame?

[bglad420]

You want to fit the rockers to the door, not the door to the rockers. If that makes sense?

[greystoke]

I saw on one of Rokcrin's builds where his door was crowding the cab where the window frame curves. He cut the door frame near where it angles and welded it back up and it helped the situation. It's an idea anyway.

[Notrodder]

Panel fitting is where a bodyman earns his pay. It requires patience.

The window frame at the a-pillar can easily be bent toward the cab. You shouldn't have to cut and weld any of that.

As for the upper right corner, it looks like you need just a small counter-clockwise rotation of the entire door (a little does a lot here), then the door can move back to tighten the gap at the rear a little bit. The fit on these doors is critical. Take your time about it, and don't do anything rash like cut or grind.

To fix the bow at the bottom edge, support the far ends of the bow and work across the edge of the high point with a block of wood and bump it with a heavy hammer. Fine tune with a hammer/dolly.

When you get to where you are doing the final fitting of the doors, you will need the door seals that you will be using in place.

[1-PU70]

I have the same problem in the top curve of the door. I have tried everything but nothing works. The only thing I have not tried is to shim the cab where it bolts to the frame. I read this can affect door alignment.

[pat 70/71]

maybe try it with the front fender installed. that way you can get a good look at the big picture and adjust from that point. Not a pro but, I have always heard to adjust panels from a fixed point on. give it a try I have done it this way for years with much success. best of luck to you, Pat

[VA72C10]

The fact that some have fixed door alignment by shimming body mounts infers to me that you should have it on the cab mounts on the frame before final fitment and definitely before you do any cutting/tweaking of the door (other than fixing the bow) I am not a body man....just thinking that it would make sense to have it on the frame because it will tweak it somewhat...my blazer door gap is perfect and the door opens easily with the top off and needs a slight tug to open the door with the top off...so it obviously is changing the door gaps if ever so slightly

[jlaird]

thanks everybody for the help. I will try the couple suggestions I got here. Somebody mentioned weatherstripping. I do have new weatherstripping and I put it on after I had the door in the ballpark and the door is pretty hard to close to the rubber stops(I don't have my latch in yet) Is that the way its supposed to feel with the weather striping on?

[RW71]

I have a 71 and the drivers side door is the same way.

[gkesseru]

Here's how I align a door (with front fenders off):
1. remove door latch
2. mount door
3. Adjust front to back with the bolts on the body pillar until gap is parallel at back of door. Also make sure crease on body lines up with crease on door at the back with this adjustment.
4. Put latch back on and adjust latch plate until door and body align with door closed right at the latch (ignore top and bottom for now). This gives you a proper reference for in/out.
5. Adjust hinge bolts on door in/out until top and bottom at rear also align. You may also need to check in/out at top of front of door against body at bottom of front pillar.
6. Replace fender and check in/out alignment. Make sure you use same number of spacers as when you removed the fender. You may need to move hinge on doors in/out as a pair to move front of doors level with fender.

[jlaird]

Originally Posted by greystoke

I saw on one of Rokcrin's builds where his door was crowding the cab where the window frame curves. He cut the door frame near where it angles and welded it back up and it helped the situation. It's an idea anyway.

Does anybody know where this Rokrin thread is? I'm thinking of doing this.

[gkesseru]

After I got the door lined up to the cab front, back and bottom I still had a small rubbing at the top of the window frame just like yours. I put a wood 2X4 vertically and smacked the window frame forward with a 5lb mini-sledge hammer. It's just right now.

[jlaird]

UPDATE: So I got the door aligned to my liking and fixed all the other issues I had. I then put the door latch and striker on and everything looks GREAT...UNTIL I put the new weather stripping on. Its making the door not want to shut all the way like I had it aligned. The weather stripping is actually pushing the door out at the door/cab seam. What should I do to fix this?

[greystoke]

Bruce's thread called "Its just a truck" had some pictures of his doors showing the gap he felt was needed for the weatherstripping. He also mentioned a lubricant for the stripping that would help.