The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop task force doors

I have been working on restoring a 1958 3100 and I am trying to get the doors to close properly. The biggest problem is that the doors are "sprung".
The door contacts the front jamb well before it approaches the rear. The hinge adjusts in the cab up or down and in the door front to rear. How can
the door be adjusted "out" @ the hinge side? The second problem is that the driver's side door hinges are adjusted all the way down and the door is still very tight to the top of the opening. Any assistance would be greatly
appreciated.

Dan G.
Bedford, Mass.

Dan - there is slight adjustment up/down on door sides of the hinges, and there is some in/out adjustment in the hinge pocket. there's a bit of info about door adjustment in the shop manual.
you've picked the worst fitting door design GM had - they almost never fit, even from the factory! what's sometimes required, especially if there's been a door replaced, or accident damage, is to get the body shops heavy artillary to work on the door opening. it doesn't take much for the openings to get tweeked out of shape, and a good bodyman can eyeball them back to fit the door better. I'm dealing w/ one right now myself that was in an accident and is now getting doors from a parts truck.

Bill

"you've picked the worst fitting door design GM had - they almost never fit, even from the factory! "
Don't know that I agree with that assessment . Just took delivery of 2 59 Fleets and both have doors which fit pretty well In fact the one needs only some grease to quiet the squeaks and it would be almost good as new. Even the one with a little hinge droop fits pretty well after slammin. Sounds to me like Dan G's truck might have been whacked at one time or another. Saw an article in one of the mags about fitting doors. They would grind an edge then run a bead of weld down it and grind some more. This is show truck stuff but in moderation wouild work for minor corrections. I assume if you are restoring that the cab mounts are OK and the cab is not sagging or twisted. If the floor was bad when the cab was removed from the frame did you brace it ? If not the shape of the door opening could have changed.