Door Alignment

[senez]

Just replaced the door hinges on the driver's side door and have played with the adjustments to get the door shutting fully. The bottom half of the door is flush with the rest of the body, but the top half isn't closing all the way. This is irritating with the amount of wind noise I'm getting, not to mention how stupid it looks. I know the truck has never been in an accident, so it's not a bent frame problem, I just need to know exactly how to go about adjusting the hinges to get this thing lined up correctly. Also, when I open this door, there's an apparent click noise that's not made with the other doors. It sounds like something coming from the area of the striker bolt/the part that hooks onto the striker bolt. Any ideas would be extremely helpful.

 

[Heavymentill]

Loosen the hinge bolts and you can slide the door to adjust. Its a trial and error process which might take a few tries befor you are satisfied.

 

[senez]

Which would you recommend adjusting first? We all know the top hinge is much more difficult than the bottom to adjust, I'm just trying to get a feel. We slid the bottom all the way towards the back of the car as it would go, and it is still doing it.

 

[Heavymentill]

When I did mine I loosened ALL of them to the point they still held their position but with some force I could still adjust. I also cut some wood spacers so I could insure a uniform gap all the way around.

 

[MONMIX]

the door bolts give you the in and out.
the pillar bolts give you front to rear.
both give you up and down.

By far the easiest way to do it is to remove the fender and align the back of the door to the rear door. ( plus it is WAY easier to acess the bolts )
That takes care of your front to back and 95% of the up and down.
Attach the fender and do your in and out from there.



Also, the using the same door the striker should not have to be adjusted, however
( fwiw ) much of the time when changing doors there IS minor striker adjustments that may need to be made.

 

[senez]

Now, what you just said is not easiest in the slightest and i'm not sure you understand the problem. My problem is with the hinges, and removing the fender is not an option whatsoever.

And i'm not sure i understand the difference between door bolts and pillar bolts. I need a little more explanation than what you said.

 

[MONMIX]

you have hinge bolts that go into the door, and you have hinge bolts that go into the pillar.

The door bolts go into the door and the pillar bolts go into,,,,,,,, you guessed it, the pillar

 

[senez]

So you're saying that since my problem lies with the upper half of the door not being flush, i should concern myself more with the upper hinge door bolts?

 

[MONMIX]

Oops,
your door is not aligned properly.
I have instaled 100's of doors on all sorts of cars.
These steps are what it takes to do the job.
No, the fender does not need to be removed but it really makes the job easier.

 

[Brian_B]

Its just trial and error. Loosen whichever (see MonMix's post) bolts need adjustment until they hold, but will move with pressure. Just be patient. After you have done a few times you get fast at it.

 

[Tony H]

There must be a markings as to where the door sat originally. Faded paint or dust or something. Can you line up the Lower hinge with that marking? that should set the bottom. Leave the Hinge to body part alone and just loosen the Hinge to Door Bolts just enough so you have to bang the door with your Palm to get it to move. Now play with it. If the hinge side of the door lines up but it sticks out by the Striker, just loosen and 'Play' with the Striker. But get the Hinged side right first

 

[410Fortune]

to make things easier you need a door hanger of some sort that will allow you to adjust the angle, height front and rear...

Man what a project this can be!
I spent two weeks on my drivers door before I got that stock look and feel again, what a PITA.

 

[MONMIX]

I spent two weeks on my drivers door before I got that stock look and feel again, what a PITA.

Man I would get fired if it took me that long

 

[Brian_B]

My first try took a few hours to get it perfect, the second door went a lot faster (I mean a lot).