The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Doors Passanger Side

On the passenger side of my 58 1/2 ton short wheelbase, the door at the bottom is about a 1/2 inch from the body. The lowest hinge has been moved in as fare as possible. Whats next hinge modification? Or something else? The driver side is almost perfect.

Every Task Force truck I have ever seen has lousy door fitment at the bottom of the cab. I think they came that way from the assembly line.
Can you move the top hinge outward? This might actually pull the bottom in some.

Lots of reasons for this. I believe they were nice fit from factory. Sometimes a door bottom patch is installed out of whack. Sometimes door is sprung or worn hinges/pins.

Adjustment is all day, back and forth because they are so dang heavy to maneuver and so many ways to move the hinges...up, down, sideways, rotation, tilt, and "do-si-do, swing your partner round and round..."

Maybe the fender is in or out and trying to match that, creates a problem. A rocker panel could have been installed out of whack. Could be a bad hinge pocket repair. Could be your rubber is doing it. It is hard to tell what is wrong. Could be a bad door donor. Has it always been this way? Did something new happen?

The only remedy, if all adjustment fails, is to remove all hinges, rubber and the striker and see if the darn thing will actually locate and not stick out anywhere. Sling the window hole on a cherry picker and see if it will nest. If it does, then see what the hinges have to do to accommodate. If it won't, you may discover who the bad guy is....opening or door.
It's big drama and a lot of cussing.

Some folks have moosed the door into shape with cloth covered 2 X 4 "wedge levers", placed here and there, and gently push on the door by hand and change the contour. (glass removed preferred) That is the last resort if you can't live with it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it makes it worse. It may be possible to align the bottom and leave top stick out and push in on top portion (the weaker section of door). I don't like this idea except on someone else's truck.

I worked on it for about 6hrs. The closest I got was about 1/2 inch. The truck is completely to a stock restoration. The floors half way up the firewall is new. The rockers are new. The bottoms of the door are new. The problem is the drivers side is mint with very little effort. I am no longer aligning the door with the fender but the cab in the back of the door. The alignment is no better with the rocker than the cab. The rocker is not preventing anything.

Read bartamos’ last paragraph. The door is tweaked and you will have to tweek it back to the proper spacing using 2X4 “wedge levers” as suggested. Good luck.🛠

What is the history of the fit of that door? Bad repairs don't necessarily hit and "prevent", they can be too far "in" and create a gap. I can't see the thing from here so just suggesting things to consider. If it fit before and does not now, it could be the repairs/not braced. It seems like with your response you are defensive, like you did the work. This is not an attack. All things must be mentioned especially when normal adjustment is not working.
"Completely to a stock restoration" does not mean anything. Us people from afar have to ignore such comments and deal with it like something is wrong. Because something is.

rocker and step were replaced poorly, opening is the problem

Bill

We assume that when you say "a gap at the bottom" and "1/2 inch from the body", the gap is at rocker/step area. You could have used just a step, just a rocker or a rocker-step combo repair patch. If you replaced bottom of door, maybe the "arc" was not maintained. Maybe some other parts of doorway were "repaired". We don't know for sure what, how and by whom. Be open to checking all that. That will be difficult to do. You will have to measure another truck or transfer from driver side. You can make a profile out of cardboard from driver door, cut it out carefully and hold up to profile of pass door and so forth. Just brainstorming here. You are an engineer and so was I. On this issue we must treat each other like normal guys.

You will be the one who figures it out but you have to take it all in first, like an engineer would. Approach it like a pessimist. "Something is wrong here and I have to find it". NOT everything that was done was a professional restoration so that's got to be right. There are no professionals, just guys who don't make mistakes very often. A guy who doesn't trust the trainee with his name. A guy who tries the door before everything is welded up.

The bending suggestion is the last resort and not to be rushed into.

It isn't my truck and I don't drink.
I have struggled with every door that I have ever had.
I'm reading these posts and now I feel like I need a beer.
It can't hurt you to try one or three.

On the 55-59 TF trucks we just expect to have lousy door fit so first we replace or rebuild all the hardware so there is no sloppiness.. Next we set the door in the opening WITH NO HARDWARE and see if it fits the hole. If not, then it is ground at the close spots, built up at the big gaps, and bent or twisted till it fits. Now just the hinges are installed and fit checked, If not a good fit hinges are bent/straightened/twisted till it fits. Sometimes the hinge bolt holes are drilled out to way oversize so door can be set in the correct position. Once set very heavy washers are installed on the bolts one at a time, tightened, and welded into place. Next step is to throw the factory latches and dove tails plus the weather strip with plastic pegs in the trash barrel. Steele glue on w/s and bear claw latches are the final step. You will now have a TF with perfect fit and gaps for a mere 3 grand or put up with a little misalignment and a few gaps for way less. One is for show and the other is for fun. Front, Rear, and side view of "worked doors".
[img]https://s14.postimg.org/4r6e12cl9/Chuck_s_55_002.jpg[/img]
[img]https://s14.postimg.org/b4vh4fcd9/Chuck_s_55_004.jpg[/img]
[img]https://s14.postimg.org/ikuqqd599/Chuck_s_55_006.jpg[/img]

Excellent post Evan!
$3,000 for both doors would be a good price if one started with decent doors to begin with.