check this out!!!

[drmoore71]

okay, so this really sucks and i'm wondering if anyone else has noticed it happening. hey y'all take a look at the back doors on your four door explorer and please let me know if this is happening to you too. it seems that the metal surrounding the rivet holding the door lock actuators to the doors is (ugh!) tearing! if you open the back door and look about 8 inches below the door latch and kiddie lock, you will find a black rivet. what i am trying to find out is whether this is a common occurence or not. these pics are of my '95 xlt. i checked my wifes '97 xlt and there is no evidence of any of this damage. i noticed this first on my passenger door. it started out much smaller, less than i currently have on the driver door, and just kept growing. i just this weekend noticed it happening on the driver side, and judging by how things have been going, i can only assume that it will get worse. let me conclude by saying that both door locks still work fine, but i can't even comprehend that the actuators would have this much torque behind them! if i can get some sort of consensus of this happening to alot of us, maybe we'll be able to get ford to do something about it. (it could happen!!)

here's the driver side:
Dead Link Removed

and here's the passenger side:
Dead Link Removed

 

[rustytr]

Ouch, man that really sucks. Hope it's not too hard to fix, good luck.

 

[blk mk8]

dude may be your door was misalined.

 

[yob_yeknom]

I just checked mine. No problems.
How on earth is a rivet tearing the metal of your door?! You'd think the metal would bend or the rivet would pull apart before it would tear metal.

 

[RTStork]

Mine look fine, I have no idea what could have caused that to happen.

 

[KEbert]

Man, I'm sorry to see that. I have no idea how you would go about fixing that either. I would write a letter to Ford though. Maybe if you are loud enough they will do something to help you.

 

[drmoore71]

thanks, y'all. i was hoping (no offense) that more of you folks would have this kind of thing going on with your trucks. i think it would be easier to get ford to do something if i had a few other voices to yell loudly with me. well i guess i'll have to take it in this w/e and see what happens... btw, if some other folks wouldn't mind too much, i would appreciate if y'all could check your trucks out, too. thanks!

 

[Stephen S]

I'll check mine for you tomorrow.

 

[drmoore71]

thanks, stephen!

 

[RFR2212]

My guess is that the rivit would need to be drilled out, then a large sheet metal type screw put in, pull the metal back, and then weld it up.
Pete

 

[Stephen S]

Doug, I just went and looked at my truck. Mine's got it too!! But mine aren't as bad as yours have gotten. Mine look a little less severe than your driver's side. But it's obvious that I do have that same curved crack just beginning under the rivet.

I used my keyless entry to activate the locks while I was looking at the rivet. Man, that whole area around that rivet flexes like crazy when the doors are locked and unlocked. With all the flexing, a fatigue crack forms and will just keep growing as you already know.

I wonder if this is a problem with only the 95-96 Explorers or if it effects the earlier models as well. Maybe your wife's 97 is still a little new to have developed the cracks. Anybody else notice this on their trucks??

 

[drmoore71]

well, stephen, i surely sorry to hear that you have it, too. but at the same time, i'm glad to know that i'm not the only one! i hope we can get the rest of y'all to check on your trucks, that way if we find alot of us with the same problem, we'll maybe be able to get something done about it. thanks to everyone who has already checked their vehicles out.

p.s. we have 7000+ explorers on this board, and already, two of us have this happening! i can't even imagine how many of the millions of x's out there are potentially doing this!

 

[Henry]

I just checked my '94 and it's ok.

 

[karl_burns]

Y'all are making me extremely happy I got the Sport now that I read about what could potentially happen to the back doors!
Karl