Door adjustment

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83kid

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Hi,
Just replaced my rear cab mounts because hey were shot... Now my passenger door closes fine, but the drivers side is crooked a little and wont exactly close right.
How can i adjust it?

Thanks!
 

MadOgre

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you need to use the bolts that attach the door hinges to the cab to adjust the up and down position of the rear edge of the door that meets the rear pillar of the cab.( note that there is a bolt that is installed in the top door hinge that must be accessed from the inside of the dash. Access it from behind the rubber grommet that the courtesy door light switch white ground wire feeds through)

Use the bolts that attach the door hinges to the door to control the in and out position of the door. You can use these bolts to bring either or both, top or bottom, in or out in relation to the cab.

So its a good idea when adjusting your door to leave one bolt fairly snug but not cinched tight, so that you can pivot from that point. So if you wanted to move the bottom edge of the door closer to the rocker panel you would loosen 2 of the bolts holding the upper door hinge to the door and loosen all 3 on the bottom hinge, then you can push the bottom of the door in on the bottom hinge and while holding it there you can then re tighten all bolts.

You can also use the bolt that is installed from behind the dash as the pivot bolt if the door needs to go up, loosen the bottom hinge and the 2 bolts from the outside on the top hinge, pull up on the rear of the door and re tighten.( you should still try and access that inside bolt and retighten once you have the door adjusted correctly)

It definitely is trial and error until you get it right where you want. It takes time and patience to get it just right.
 

chengny

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Because this just started happening after the mounts were changed, let's assume that the misalignment is in the vertical direction.

And, because you only changed the rear mounts (that's true, right?) the height of the B pillar rose in relation to the A pillar.

The door is hung on the A pillar and is securely fastened to it (by the hinge bolts).

The latching process takes place at the other end of the door. There are two basic components involved; the striker and the lock. The striker is firmly held in place on the front face of the B pillar. The main body of the lock is inside the door and is secured in place by screws that pass through the rear face of the door. There is a latching mechanism that is exposed at a cut out in the rear face of the door skin.

When the door is shut the striker "strikes" the latch. The latch can rotate and when the striker hits it, it snaps closed around the striker. The door is "latched" closed and will stay that way until the lock is released by either the exterior button or the pull handle on the inside of the door panel.

I am sure you can see where this is going. In order to re-align the latch with the striker, the back end of the door will need to be raised.

The hinges on the front end have bolts that point in two different directions. One set goes front to back and the other set goes from outside to inside. It is the second set - the ones that secure the hinge to the A pillar - that you will be working with. Be advised: the top bolt on the upper hinge is screwed into the hinge from inside the cab. There is an opening way up on the inside wall - almost up near the speaker - that allows access to the bolt head. The heads of all the bolts are the same (9/16" IIRC)

Loosen all six bolts, but only enough that you are just able to move the hinges by lifting up and pushing down on the rear end of the door. Next, spray some lubricant down between the pillar and the face of the hinge and re-tighten the bolts. Make them just tight enough that you can still move the hinge in relation to the pillar but the hinge will stay where you leave it when you let go.

When you have the hinges tightened like this, go to the back end of the door and shut it. You may have to temporarily loosen the striker. Move the door up/down and front/back until you have the gaps like this:

Gap between door and rocker panel is 6 mm plus or minus 2 mm (0.24 inch plus or minus 0.09).
Gap between door and roof panel is 5 mm plus or minus 2 mm (0.19 inch plus or minus 0.09).
Gap between door and the door pillar is 5 mm plus or minus 2 mm (0.19 inch plus or minus 0.09).
Gap between door and windshield pillar should be 2 mm plus or minus 1.5 mm (0.08 inch plus or minus0.06)


Those are the factory specified gaps, but you might have to deviate from those measurements a bit to get the striker and latch to line up:


Close the door slowly, and watch the engagement of the striker/latch. As the latch nears the striker, lift the door up or down as necessary to get the latch to accept the striker and snap shut when the striker hits the pawl.

Go to the hinges and snug the bolts up - but don't do the final torque yet. Test your alignment by swinging the door shut normally. Don't try to help it. If it can't engage itself loosen the bolts and continue until you find the "sweet spot".


The last step is to adjust the striker in and out so that when the door is flung shut normally, the latch closes around the striker and the trailing edge of the door is flush with the outer face of the B pillar.




This is not an exact science especially because (if) you only changed the rear mounts and the truck is getting old.
 
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friscobob

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It is so easy to remove the driver side fender I removed mine when I installed new hinges and adjusted the door to the opening then reinstalled fender. YMMV
Bob
 

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I just bought a 84 K5 and the doors sag about half and inch. when I lightly lift up on the doors you can see the whole hing move and when i release softly it saggs/ then tweaks the sheet metal. im guessing its from years and years of people hanging on the doors to get into it. "6in lift, no steps" is this adjustable? can i tighten up the slop in the door? or might i have a bigger problem? i can send pitures and videos in needed.
 

83kid

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Well i was looking at it closely and i figured id just leave it, will it hurt anything to do that?
If i raise the back of the door, the upper front part will come forward. But, thats already a little more then it looks like it should be. Fenders in the right place, lines up great everywhere, but that doesnt seem to be it. Had a guy i know who is quite knowledgable with these trucks and body work and he says he doesnt know what would solve it, everything around the door doesnt line up but the door doesnt line up with it all, even though the door itself has nothing wrong with it
 

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Well i was looking at it closely and i figured id just leave it, will it hurt anything to do that?
If i raise the back of the door, the upper front part will come forward. But, thats already a little more then it looks like it should be. Fenders in the right place, lines up great everywhere, but that doesnt seem to be it. Had a guy i know who is quite knowledgable with these trucks and body work and he says he doesnt know what would solve it, everything around the door doesnt line up but the door doesnt line up with it all, even though the door itself has nothing wrong with it

pivot on the top hinge , so loosen the bottom hinge and keep one bolt fairly tight on the top hinge. that way the top stays put and the bottom moves rearward with the door.
 

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It is so easy to remove the driver side fender I removed mine when I installed new hinges and adjusted the door to the opening then reinstalled fender. YMMV
Bob

Depends on where the truck is from. Removing the fender on some trucks can be a pain in the rear due to rusty hardware.
 

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Depends on where the truck is from. Removing the fender on some trucks can be a pain in the rear due to rusty hardware.

X@2
 

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Well you do have a point there. 50/50 solution of ATF and acetone makes a great penetrating oil and most of the fender bolts can be squirted on the backside.
 

MadOgre

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Well you do have a point there. 50/50 solution of ATF and acetone makes a great penetrating oil and most of the fender bolts can be squirted on the backside.

Unless there's nothing to keep the retainer clip from spinning!
 

robert8096

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I just bought a 84 K5 and the doors sag about half and inch. when I lightly lift up on the doors you can see the whole hing move and when i release softly it saggs/ then tweaks the sheet metal. im guessing its from years and years of people hanging on the doors to get into it. "6in lift, no steps" is this adjustable? can i tighten up the slop in the door? or might i have a bigger problem? i can send pitures and videos in needed.

You most likely have bad pins in the door hinges. You can get replacements at your local autoparts store.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/370834763696?lpid=82

83kid
I would change the front mounts and see if that corrects the door issue.

Someone school me here but the cab is a solid unit mounted to the frame of the truck. The door opening is constant to the cab and really should not be affected by replacing the cab mounts. I can understand that changing the rear cab mounts could throw off the gap between the door and front fender but since the fender is mounted to cab it should be minimal. I guess that the cab is now sitting a little higher in the back causing a binding situation.
 

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I have worn door pins and I adjusted them so the door sits correctly
 

friscobob

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The cab is solid but not that solid, it can be flexed. The front fenders do bolt up solid to the cab, but have large holes to allow adjustment. It can be a real chase your tail thing getting all of gaps looking right. I run up all the bolts finger tight and move it around as needed.
 

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You adjust the doors to the cab then the fenders to the door
 

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