The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Doors 52 GMC door fit issues- molding related?

Scenario: 3/8" gap at rear bottom of both doors when closed (door sticking out from closing completely). New molding installed. Pretty good door gap clearance all around perimeters. Front door edge flush to 1/16" out per shop manual. No metal-to-metal contact anywhere. Striker plates adjusted all the way in for maximum snugness. I even drilled out the mounting holes on the passenger door to add another 1/8" or so of additional adjustment. If I crank these doors inward using a web-clamp stretched between the arm rests, these doors fit beautifully with no binding.

When I test-fitted these doors prior to painting with no rubber or striker plates installed, they looked great. There doesn't seem to be enough inward adjustment on the 52 cab post/striker factory placement. I haven't experienced this problem before with '48 or '50 doors that also had new molding installed. Is this a 52-54 issue? The doors latch, lock, and unlock nicely. They just look unsightly. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Let enough time pass for the rubber to compress and conform to the door and door opening. You might have some high spots that will go away.
Carl

If I could just shut it up tight and walk away from it for 6 months, that might be the best thing that I could do.

I feel your pain, brother.

Seriously, I did pull the doors tightly shut with the web-clamp today and I'll leave it that way until Spring. I can keep busy doing other stuff until the weather warms up. I was hoping that somebody had some new, INSTANT remedy for this rubber molding condition. Thanks, Carl. Dave

I have a similar problem. I just finshed installing new weatherstrip on the passenger door of my 55 1st series truck. The door fit and closed correct prior to the installation of the weatherstrip. Now the door latches but not closed all the way flush. I used weatherstrip from Steel Rubber Products. It has me puzzled.

Some tips on doors from those that knew.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/advance-design_parts_co/sets/72157641244124604/

I noticed that Steele makes two similar door weatherstrips. The 39-50 style, is 9/16" wide X 1/2" high and the 39-55 style is 1/2" wide X 11/16" high. I used the 39-50 type on my 1950 pickup and the 39-55 type on my 1948 suburban. Both worked well, but the 39-50 strip didn't "mushroom" out as much as the other. I have a theory that the 39-50 style should be used for doors that fit nicely to begin with and use the 39-55 stuff for doors with looser tolerances. Just a THEORY- I'm not going to rip off the weatherstripping and start over. Not yet anyway!

Why don't you call Steele and ask them why the listings overlap?
Then report back to us with the results.
When you get the dope straight from the horse's mouth its always
more accurate than the supposition you'll get from social media.

Denny G

Quoting the Steele catalogue: "70-0331-73 1939-55 Weatherstrip, door edge, superior quality sponge. Similar to number 70-0145-73 but shallower. Please measure doors for required length. Many models.

70-0145-73 1947-55 Weatherstrip, door edge. High quality, fine textured sponge. Exact original configuration for ''47 to '55 (1st Ser.) and good replacement for earlier models. Easily follows contours. Please measure doors for required length."

These are both listed under Chevy trucks in the 2003 catalog. I don't suppose that it has changed much since then. So, the earlier 39-50 would have been used on 39-47 (1st Ser.) trucks and 48-50 "many models". The 47-55 would have been used on AD truck models as I interpret the catalog. But the fact remains that on my particular 52 GMC doors, I seem to have a lot of excess rubber.

I have been doing some investigation. There are two weatherstrips available from various parts suppliers. Most suppliers offer the ones listed below. The ones listed below with an explanation are from the Filling Station. My truck doors fit really well prior to installing the thicker weatherstrip. Now they will not close. I will be removing the thick weatherstrip and installing the thinner weatherstrip. New weatherstrip on order.

1)
DOOR EDGE WEATHERSTRIP
Thicker Profile - 11/16" Tall
In 1955, used on 1st Series Trucks only. Over the years we have found that two different thicknesses of door weatherstrip are required for 1947-1955 (1st Series) Chevy & GMC trucks. We offer two different thicknesses to allow for loose or tight fitting door gaps. This door edge weatherstrip is a high quality textured sponge rubber. Similar to 70-331 but with a taller 11/16" height compared to 70-331 which is 1/2" tall. Use this seal if your door clearances require a heavier seal. Use 70-331 if you have tighter door clearances.

2)
DOOR EDGE WEATHERSTRIP
Thinner Profile - 1/2" High
In 1955, used on 1st Series Trucks only. Over the years we have found that two different thicknesses of door weatherstrip are required for 1947-1955 (1st Series) Chevy & GMC trucks. We offer two different thicknesses to allow for loose or tight fitting door gaps. This door edge weatherstrip is a high quality textured sponge rubber, made in the USA! Similar to C-145 but with a shallower 1/2" height compared to C-145 which is 11/16" tall. Use this seal if your door clearances are tight. Use C-145 if you have larger door clearances.

Here are pictures of the two door weatherstrips.

=83727234&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=0]larger weatherstrip

=83727234&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=1]smaller weatherstrip

...picture...

Alan's tips
...link...
...filling station video...

I figured that my molding issue wasn't unique. It's interesting to see that Filling Station sells its molding by the subjective standard of "loose" and "tight" door gaps rather than a strict choice based solely on model years. After watching the installation video, I'm satisfied that my technique and rubber-to-door orientation are adequate. I really like the suggestion of masking off the glue line with tape and will do that next time.

I'm still going to wait for a while longer to let the rubber compress some more before ripping the molding off and doing it over. But I may have a re-do with the smaller weatherstrip coming up in the Spring. This is an example of being proactive to a fault and buying the molding too far in advance to see in the real world what size molding would fit my door gap better. Thanks everybody! Dave

Just finished installing the thinner profile weatherstrip on the drivers door. Installed the door. It closed and its a great fit. I removed the thicker profile weatherstrip on the passenger door and installed the thinner profile weatherstrip. Installed the door. It closed and its also great fit.

Makes a guy happy when things work out.

Thanks for sharing your experience with the smaller weatherstrip, Larry. That encourages me to change-out mine. I readjusted my doors again the other day including drilling out the mounting holes in the striker plates to 9/16" to accommodate some additional inward movement. That helped a little. I also noticed that the width of my driver's door opening in the cab is about 1/8" narrower than the passenger side. Whether through poor alignment at the factory in 1952 or subsequent accident damage, I can't say. I did some more tinkering with the hinge adjustment as well and that helped a little too. The molding at the junction of the cab floor and door also inhibits the full closing of the door somewhat. This project is far past the pre-painting stage where I can cut, hammer, or weld my way out of the situation. The doors look good when held shut with the web-clamp. The new rubber will either surrender to the clamp by Spring or be changed out.

Update: I also installed the thinner weatherstrip from Filling Station (same as Steele). Much better! The rear gap has been reduced from the original 3/8" down to 1/16" to 1/8". Partly the thinner molding and partly altering the striker plates to suck the doors in tighter. Five to six weeks of the doors pulled shut by the clamp had no effect on the thicker molding. The doors could eventually end up being flush if the rubber relaxes more over time.

I don't regret trying the $20 weatherstrip that I used the first time. That same rubber worked fine on my 48 suburban and might have worked OK on the 52 GMC. I decided that whatever door fit I ended up with using this $4/ft thinner molding is what I can live with. $112 still seems like a lot for a set of door molding but I ended up with a better fit for the extra money.
I had a 40" piece of this weatherstrip left over reflecting $12 wasted. The Filling Station catalog recommends 28' of molding for both doors. If you're careful, you can do it with 25' and save the $12 since they claim to sell it by the foot.

Enough messing with the doors!