The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Door aligning bumpers

The doors on my 38 tend to sag a little so when I was buying all the things I needed to put her back together I bought a set of 2 "bumper pads - door aligning" for each door. Problem is I can't figure out where they go. The only thing that even resembles what I bought are in the door jamb, I believe it's called the dovetail. The ones that are in there are metal and the new ones are hard rubber. Even if that's where they go I can't seem to get the old metal ones out. Sorry if my terminology is confusing but if anyone can figure out what I'm talking about and can help me I sure would appreciate it. By the way, I did call the vendor where I bought them and asked them, but the only help they could give me was to suggest I look at another truck of my vintage and see where they were installed. If I had another truck to look at I wouldn't have needed to call them in the first place.
Thanks for any help, Don

If you take the metal strip off that holds the cab lace and then the metal corner. You will see two screws that hold a bracket that holds the two steel caps . Under the caps is where the the two rubbers go. Hope this helps if not can send pictures to show.

Hi molley45, thanks for the reply. I finally figured out where they went, it was the metal caps that had me scratching my head. Now that the new bumpers are in place my door lines up fine when it's closed but I have to lift it or shut it hard for the dovetails to line up. My hinges have been welded in so there is no way to adjust them. I'm reluctant to start bending things so I guess I'll have to live with what I have.

Thanks again, Don

Don, even though they are welded in place, you still can adjust for the door sag. If you study the hinges, you will see there is really no other adjustment for the sag other then bending the hinges. All the factory adjustment points are for in and out or up and down. To raise the back of the door, the bottom hinge needs to be spread open, or made wider. Think of putting a screw driver handle in the hinge and closing the door. Thats what needs to happen. You get the same effect by adding a spacer to the lower hinge between the door and hinge.

Have you checked the cab mounts? You might all ready know that the front of the cab is bolted right to the frame. This front part supports the forward section of the door frame and firewall area. The rear part of the cab is mounted on wood blocks with springs to allow movements on uneven roads. There is also wood blocks right under the floor where the back of the cab meets the front section, right below the front door post. This block is used like a hinge to allow the cab to flex. If any of the blocks have failed or are to tall, you door will not line up properly. Try lowering the back of the cab just a touch to see if you can get the door shut a little easyer.

Use the bending method as a last resort. It works good if you get it right, go to far and you might be in trouble. Replacements are avalible, but getting yours off might be a trick! Joe

Joe, thanks for all the info on the cab mounts. When I bought this truck the cab was the only thing mounted, everything else i did myself. If you recall I did have problems aligning fenders, hood, etc. It could very well be that the cab was not mounted properly. I will crawl under her today and check out the wood blocks you mentioned. Thanks again, Don