how do I get my doors to close easily instead of having to slam them

[G-NUT]

How do I get my doors to close easily instead of having to slam them? It's a crew cab. My front doors take a great deal of force to actually latch completely while the back doors don't take as much but still have to shut pretty hard.

The doors close easily but unless I slam them they only single latch, not close/latch all the way.

I have replaced the hinge pins on both front doors and replaced the striker bolt on all 4 doors. No difference.

I've seen some of these trucks where you can easily shut the door with normal force and it actually latch all the way.

[mongocanfly]

Is your striker pin adjusted right..? Try movin it all the way to the outside and try it...mine used to be the same way and that's all I did..they would only catch the first notch and you had to slam the heck out of it to get the second.

[nonstop]

Search up pex tubing on here. Essentially, you buy a length and cut it to fit on the striker. Cut a slit to slide it over and you're done. I didn't believe it until I tried it myself.

[xole]

There should be a plastic bushing on the door striker bolt that is probably missing. You can just cut off some from PEX tubing at home depot or buy new ones at just about any parts store in the HELP section.

Just do a search for striker.

Good Luck!

-David

[TKCR]

Working on this myself right now. I have replaced the strikers w/ bushings. Replaced the latches as well. I have been working on moving the striker around and adjusting the door itself. It is way better, but I'm pretty picky, I think it could be better. I also put new weathstrips on, which is really making the door feel like it's harder to close.

[G-NUT]

Thanks for the reply. I have tried moving the striker bolt out, and it does allow the door to close easier, but when I do this the door edge is not lined up with the body and the door doesn't seal very well.

[G-NUT]

I replaced the striker bolt on all 4 doors. The new striker bolts have the hard plastic type sleeve on them.

My weather stripping has never been replaced. I plan to do this one day but that day is not now. I've been purchasing suspension parts.

[mongocanfly]

Yeah when I moved mine out the door edge didn't line up either but I started moving them in a little at a time until they were flush..if its a problem to close now it will get worse when you put new weatherstripping on it.them doors are hard to close until that new stuff gets mashed..

[slotard]

Oddly enough my driver's door has a crack near the hinges but closes easily, while my passenger door has to be slammed fairly hard. Window on the driver door rattles pretty well though... so sometimes things are just weird.

[HAULIN' IT]

Without being there to see & work it...it can be tough to say what is going on for sure. A likely cause for a door with good hinges to close poorly is that it is in too far at the cowl/a-pillar & is binding on the weatherstrip. Unfortunately due to the incorrect shape of some/many replacement body panels, sometimes this can be a problem without much solution.
What you can start with is a sheet of paper...sitting in the truck, place it between the door & weatherstrip & pull the door shut...see how much tension it takes to pull the paper out. Move the paper from top to bottom closing it in there & trying the pull test. You will likely find a place that is real tight...the curve above the upper hinge is common.
If you find an area, try moving the door outward slightly to see if that helps. At this point it is a matter of if the fender can be moved to look correct or not. Hope This Helps, Lorne

[Firebirdjones]

My 79 has been like that since it was new. If I open a window they become easier to shut, the truck is just air tight. It actually can pop your ears sitting inside and shutting doors with the windows closed (that's what my wife tells me.)
If I were to adjust strikers the doors would no longer line up. My truck is original and unrestored, it's just the way it is. Over the years I've learned to live with it, you just get used to it. I like the tight and rattle free feeling.

[G-NUT]

Originally Posted by HAULIN' IT

Without being there to see & work it...it can be tough to say what is going on for sure. A likely cause for a door with good hinges to close poorly is that it is in too far at the cowl/a-pillar & is binding on the weatherstrip. Unfortunately due to the incorrect shape of some/many replacement body panels, sometimes this can be a problem without much solution.
What you can start with is a sheet of paper...sitting in the truck, place it between the door & weatherstrip & pull the door shut...see how much tension it takes to pull the paper out. Move the paper from top to bottom closing it in there & trying the pull test. You will likely find a place that is real tight...the curve above the upper hinge is common.
If you find an area, try moving the door outward slightly to see if that helps. At this point it is a matter of if the fender can be moved to look correct or not. Hope This Helps, Lorne

Thanks. I'll check it out.

Originally Posted by Firebirdjones

My 79 has been like that since it was new. If I open a window they become easier to shut, the truck is just air tight. It actually can pop your ears sitting inside and shutting doors with the windows closed (that's what my wife tells me.)
If I were to adjust strikers the doors would no longer line up. My truck is original and unrestored, it's just the way it is. Over the years I've learned to live with it, you just get used to it. I like the tight and rattle free feeling.

Thanks for the replies everyone.

[cadillac_al]

Originally Posted by Firebirdjones

My 79 has been like that since it was new. If I open a window they become easier to shut, the truck is just air tight. It actually can pop your ears sitting inside and shutting doors with the windows closed (that's what my wife tells me.)
If I were to adjust strikers the doors would no longer line up. My truck is original and unrestored, it's just the way it is. Over the years I've learned to live with it, you just get used to it. I like the tight and rattle free feeling.

My k15 is the same way. You can slam them several times or just crack the window and it will close easily. I heard there was an air flap in the doors somewhere to prevent this but I never investigated it very much.

[Firebirdjones]

Originally Posted by cadillac_al

My k15 is the same way. You can slam them several times or just crack the window and it will close easily. I heard there was an air flap in the doors somewhere to prevent this but I never investigated it very much.

Yep, funny how cracking a window makes it easy. I don't know about the air flap thingy either, never looked into it. Frankly I'm just used to it, I like the truck being air tight, it's quiet going down the road, no rattles, no wind noise at all, a nice tight feeling you don't get in many other 70's trucks.

[MalibuSSwagon]

The door actually has louvers in the jamb area to prevent this on my 86. I did have latching issues and finally tried the pex fix, it works great. And a bargain at $2 for an 8ft section.

[Firebirdjones]

That might be an 80's thing. I don't believe my 79 has louvers in the doors.

It's not a striker problem, at least not with mine. Everything is tight and works as it should. These doors aren't very heavy either and are short, so they don't carry much momentum when closing, you just have to use a little muscle.
If the doors were a little longer and loaded with power accessories it probably wouldn't take that much to close them at all. But like I said, I can crack the rear slider, or just open a cozy wing, and they shut easily.

[ray_mcavoy]

The vents are at the lower rear corners of the doors. This is from a 73 sales brochure:

[wilkin250r]

Originally Posted by HAULIN' IT

Without being there to see & work it...it can be tough to say what is going on for sure. A likely cause for a door with good hinges to close poorly is that it is in too far at the cowl/a-pillar & is binding on the weatherstrip. Unfortunately due to the incorrect shape of some/many replacement body panels, sometimes this can be a problem without much solution.
What you can start with is a sheet of paper...sitting in the truck, place it between the door & weatherstrip & pull the door shut...see how much tension it takes to pull the paper out. Move the paper from top to bottom closing it in there & trying the pull test. You will likely find a place that is real tight...the curve above the upper hinge is common.
If you find an area, try moving the door outward slightly to see if that helps. At this point it is a matter of if the fender can be moved to look correct or not. Hope This Helps, Lorne

I've always heard this referred to as the Dollar Bill Test, because the strip of paper people often use is a dollar bill.

And the last couple sentences I think are the key, because if your door is binding up on the weather stripping right near the hinge or near the vent window, no reasonable amount of adjustment in the striker will fix it.

Sometimes you get lucky and it's a single-issue fix, like "door pins" or "striker bushing", but it sounds like you have already eliminated those. Now, it might be a matter of deciding how much work do you want to go through to fix it, like shimming both door hinges AND body panels to match.