The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Some help with doors on A D please

Hello everyone,
The 53 and myself are not seeing things eye to eye today.Hear is whats going on.I am deep in the middle of the floor board-cowel-kickpanel-rockerpanel patch panel fiasco,assembling it all with sheet metal screws befor welding, seems the 53 thinks it looks better with no doors.They wont close right I have been dooing a little hinge bending with not a lot of luck.I would be very greatful if a couple of you guys would go slap a tape measure on your rocker panels and give me the measurement between the door post also what is the average size of the gap around the door? Thanks Aaron :rolleyes:

You just found the reason why you brace the door frames before doing this work. Your cab has flexed.

Aaron,

I recommend you measure the width of your doors at both the upper and lower hinge points and then check the opening width. You need 3/16" minimum on each side or 3/8" overall. If the opening is not enough remove some of the screws and put a bottle jack and blocks between the pillars and open it up a bit. I tacked angle iron braces from the top of the seat base to the inner firewall and it helped mine to keep shape. I also cut 2 small angle iron pc's to hold the opening in place while I welded. My door gap turned out great all around and this was my first time at this type of surgery/welding. Here's some pic's of how I did mine. Good luck.

http://community.webshots.com/album/377692314ehfoan

Curt B.