'72 door adjustment

[Lowenuf]

Search didnt answer my questions....

So, can anyone elaborate how to make my doors a little tighter when closed?

I have removed all mechanisms and oiled/greased them, and all springs are free and intact, but I still have about 1/8" of slop allowing the doors to rattle...

Thx...

[joeydurango]

So long as your door seals aren't shot, you might be able to move the strike plates (where the latch contacts and engages) on the cab inward a little bit, making the door have to be tighter in order to engage. Just a few seconds with a socket wrench will let you know...

[Lowenuf]

I shall try that, I loosened those bolts, but didnt see any adjustment, so didnt think it would make a difference.....thx

[chiefcfd]

The striker plate will move. Make a mark before you move it, then you can tell how far it moved. It may be stuck so a light tap with a hammer will do.

[joeydurango]

Yep, they move - so long as the adjustment isn't maxed out in the direction you're trying to move them. Like Chief said, they tend to be sticky, and with the big lock washers on those bolts sometimes you have to loosen more than you'd imagine.

[hugger6933]

First off those striker plates have some seem sealer or glue on them from the factory that hold them in place you gonna need to knock snot out of them to loosen them up. The adjustment hole for each bolt is like an inch square [maybe closer to 3/4] but in any event they will move unless some weird act has been done to them.
Now one thing to bring up that rarely is talked about when this comes up is that the latch has two [notches for lack of a better word] that catches the striker. Now if and most times that is a big IF the striker is a little too far in it will go past the second notch and go on to another half that will make you think the door is not closing all the way when in fact it is gone too far. This usually show up after the some sort of work has been done in this area and are trying to set new latch plate settings.

[Lowenuf]

Thx... I did notice when rotating the passenger latch, it seems to advance and stop like it is indexed, the driver side latch feels like it might attempt to turn a little more after the "anti kick back" happens...

Worn latch mechanism?

[Cesar Diaz]

Hugger you are 100% correct. I found this out from trying to get a tighter door close when I reinstalled my striker plates after refinishing them. I actually had to move the striker closer to the outside of the truck to get a tight fit.