Front Door Alignment

Look at the striker on all doors and check that the bolts are tight (torx bit), preferably torqued to spec with a torque wrench, and that the point of contact where the latch locks onto the striker isn't worn down. If it is worn enough that it might be the problem, you can usually flip the striker over and use the non-worn side.

If the strikers are good the next thing to check would probably be the door hinge pins themselves, without messing with the hinge bolts yet. The door hinge pins wear (usually just one wears, actually) and replacing a worn one can put a door right back in to perfect alignment. If you mess with hinge bolts instead, it can take a loooong time to ever get the door back into perfect alignment ever again, even when the hinge pins are replaced afterward.

You can get new hinge pins from Autozone or any auto parts store in the HELP! section.

You should also check the weatherstripping, rubber door bumpers at the top and bottom corners, scuff plates, and all the plastic interior trim to be sure that nothing is out of place or otherwise interfering with the door and causing the gap. Also check that the latches are clean and lubed and it's not just sticky latches that aren't snappy and letting the door close and shut tightly.

You should also do some visual inspection, eyeing the door (including the top part) from the extreme angles like you show in the pic and try to get an idea of whether the door and body is otherwise straight top to bottom or if anything else is out of place. Have someone push in the door slightly to it's ideal position and hold it there while you're inspecting the body lines if need be. It could be that someone pushed in the door panel ever so slightly with their vehicle, or other ultra-mild body "damage" is causing the gap.

You can also just look at the door hinges with a flashlight and see if there is any evidence that they moved - either the hinges on the body or on the door. Hinges can also sag/bend slightly over time so sometimes even with a hinge pin replacement, tweaking hinges slightly may be necessary. Loosening the bolts and moving the entire door on the hinges isn't the same thing as tweaking the hinges by bending the tabs where the pins go, since when you loosen the hinge bolts and move the door, you're changing the angle of the entire door.

So, I'd say check everything and do a lot of other stuff before ever touching the hinge bolts, only loosening those if the hinges are slightly moved from their original position (unlikely), or you've done everything else and no other adjustments have worked.

Thanks once again Anime for your informative reply, glad I didn't loosen the bolts before you posted. Hinges are tight a free of play, and the latch is new due to commonly broken internal spring. Striker, rubber door seals and bumpers also "appear" to be in good condition. I recently replaced the A and B pillar foam cab body mounts but the passenger door misalignment has been there since I bought the truck used in 2009 at 46k. Almost always do my own work but for this I'll call local body shops for estimates and save the frustration.

Do you know the history of the vehicle? If it came like that used I'd be suspicious of body damage being the cause. Could be that the original door was even replaced with a different one and/or the body shop that did whatever work might have caused it or just didn't bother aligning the door correctly.

One way to find out is look inside the door and check if the paint matches the vehicle color, or if it's different. That or the VIN stickers/stamps if there are any.

Hopefully it's just some minor adjustments, but keep in mind even if a body shop quotes an estimate for just a normal door alignment, if they get into it and discover collision damage or poor repair work that caused the gap, they will probably charge quite a bit to deal with other people's laziness. If you do decide to have a body shop work on it, I'd suggest specifying they are to contact you before going ahead with any extensive work if they find bigger problems and/or will need to charge more than the original estimate.


You could always try messing with it before taking it to a body shop, if nothing else just to see if minor adjustments affect the gap or not. I wasn't trying to dissuade you from working on it, just warning that going straight for the hinge bolts can create unnecessary work if the issue is just a worn hinge pin.

It's really helpful to have another set of hands to either hold the door or loosen/tighten the bolts, but can be done solo with a cooler or jackstands to support the door.

I'd say at least give it a shot before taking it in. Even if you don't get it perfect, it might still be good enough to seal the door and fix the issue without spending much time or money on it.

swshawaii said:

Thanks once again Anime for your informative reply, glad I didn't loosen the bolts before you posted. Hinges are tight a free of play, and the latch is new due to commonly broken internal spring. Striker, rubber door seals and bumpers also "appear" to be in good condition. I recently replaced the A and B pillar foam cab body mounts but the passenger door misalignment has been there since I bought the truck used in 2009 at 46k. Almost always do my own work but for this I'll call local body shops for estimates and save the frustration.

Click to expand...

You live in Hawaii. What do you need doors for? Take'em off, call it a "thing".

Bobmbx said:

You live in Hawaii. What do you need doors for? Take'em off, call it a "thing".

Click to expand...

IMO, Hawaii has some of the most "considerate" drivers in the country, unfortunately, that's not always a good thing.
Not unusual for drivers to STOP on the freeway to let other cars merge. Also, drivers tailgating using their "dumbphone"
is very commonly seen, despite a $300 mail citation. Doors can only help, if anything for peace of mind. :roll:

Need the doors to keep the interior cool with the A/C on.

Do this first.
Close the door gently. One click. Two clicks.
If I had a dollar for every time I have seen a "tech" adjust the door on the first click alone.
If it sits out that far with just one click, you could be in luck. If it sits out that far on two click we could have an adventure ahead of us.
If that is the case could you post a good clear picture of the striker and then pull off the body seal and take a picture of the pinch weld near the latch. Let me see a good six or eight inches of the pinch weld.

Thanks Monmix, always nice to get advice from a specialist. The pic posted is the door closed all the way to the second click with the safety catch engaged. I tried the 3x5 index card test along the bottom door seal with the door closed and found no looseness all the way across. Visited a body shop and the tech said the gap was not unusual, especially compared to Chebby trucks.
He moved the striker in about 1/8" and it closed the bottom corner gap slightly, but the door requires slamming to latch, not the solid sound and feel I prefer like the driver side. Here's pics of the pinch weld and striker. Plastic striker bushing appears worn, but no looseness is felt at the door latch. If aligning is too labor intensive, I can live with it since it's been that way since I bought it.

Thats really strange.

I see nothing that tells me that area was damaged. The striker appears to be in fantastic condition.

Good job on the 3X5 card. That would have been my next test any way. Although I use a piece of note book paper cut into a three inch strip. The longer paper means less knuckles shut in the door.

The tech moved the striker in 1/8 of an inch and now its difficult to close?

Yeah I am kinda stumped. I mean there are some aggressive tweaks we could try, but thats up to you. I wont be able to help a whole lot with out seeing it and putting my hands on it. I have always wanted to visit Hawaii. My wife and I want to retire there. If you can wait about 15 more years......

In my experience, the Explorer doors can "twist", meaning the bottom corner can be sticking out, and the top corner can be sticking "in".

When that top corner is twisted inwards, that's what causes the door to need to be slammed shut rather than closing like new without much effort.

Unfortunately, it's not always easy to tell how twisted a door is since the top corner/edge of Explorer doors sit farther in than they look like they should.


If you do more adjustments, I'd say move the striker back out the 1/8" to it's original position, if too many things are adjusted at once, you wind up having the stuff that was adjusted but wasn't the cause keep it out of whack even if you adjust what would otherwise fix it.

That's just it Anime, the other three corners of the door are perfectly aligned and evenly spaced with the fender and rear door.
I imagine "twisting" it in would cause more alignment issues, and force the front top corner out causing wind noise. I moved the striker out to it's previous position and it appears the same as in the pic in the first post. Really isn't that noticeable being on the bottom rear corner, I can live with it since there's no leaking or wind noise like I said in the first post. Thanks for the help guys.

swshawaii said:

IMO, Hawaii has some of the most "considerate" drivers in the country, unfortunately, that's not always a good thing.
Not unusual for drivers to STOP on the freeway to let other cars merge. Also, drivers tailgating using their "dumbphone"
is very commonly seen, despite a $300 mail citation. Doors can only help, if anything for peace of mind. :roll:

Click to expand...

I agree, don't bring your mainland road rage here and forget about flicking or cutting someone off.

Especially on windward side, during the winter, you don't want your doors off. Although it's never cold it can be a wet winter.

Damn I love the waterfalls pouring down the mountain going west bound on H3 before the tunnels.