How do you align drivers side door

[shearerdc]

98 Explorer drivers side door leaks water from the top of the door seal. I looked outside and where the door closes on the seal it is not tight. I want to just align the door better so it closer tighter. Does anybody know the best way of doing this?

 

[Exploderpilot]

The bolts that hold the door on is the adjustment. Put a towel over a wood block on a jack to hold the door, and loosen the bolts slightly. It's kinda hit and miss from there, purely trial and error.

 

[toypaseo]

Do you need to just "bend" the top of the door back a bit...?

 

[vroomzoomboom]

Do you need to just "bend" the top of the door back a bit...?

x2

 

[shearerdc]

OK, thanks. You know, I sort of wondered if the door was slightly out of alignment, but before I go bending stuff I think that I will try the bolts that hold the door on. Thx.

 

[toypaseo]

I would look at the overall door alignment with the body lines, etc.

If the door lines up with those, and the top is bowed out, loosening the bolts will make things go out of whack.

I am no body guy, so I have no idea if this is correct, although, I helped one of my buddies put two new GM doors on a 1991 GMC Sonoma. Lots of finesse, bending, hole slotting, washers, etc...

 

[winsorcoke]

I had a similar problem with the door sagging on my '97 sport. The lower door hinge went bad. You can open your door and grab it from the bottom and pull up. If it moves your hinge is bad. What I ended up doing instead of replacing the hinge was put a couple good sized washers under the hinge at the lower two bolts. This lined my door right up and now no more door slamming.