The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Doors Door alingment and striker adjustment

Have 2 issues I need advice on. Project is a late 1949 GMC 101 half ton

Door alignment.

Both doors have the same issue. The gaps are good on both front and back edge. The top of the door is nice and tight to the body. However the bottom on both doors are sticking out approx. 1/2" . Pass door is a little more pronounced. There doesn't seem to be an adjustment that will address just the bottom edge.

Door latch and striker adjustment.

On the pass door the latch will not catch on the full close position. It will catch on the safety mid point . If I really slam it 1 out of 10 times it will latch. Both the latch and striker are new repos. Ironically on the drivers side door I was able to save the latch and only had to replace the striker. This door works fine (except for the alignment issue mentioned above).

Any suggestions or links to alignment procedures would be appreciated.

Thanks, Tom

Tom, one bit of hard learned advice, scrap the repo latches and find some useable orignals.

Is the belt line on the door aligned with the belt line on the cab?
A good tip that I have learned for adjusting doors is to completely remove the striker. It just gets in the way. Once the door is adjusted to the opening with the belt line aligned, the striker will usually be east to install and adjust.
Carl

This is the factory approach. Ditto on finding good used or NOS the reproductions are crap. The NOS parts are readily available.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/advance-design_parts_co/48510906267/in/album-72157631868452754/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/advance-design_parts_co/albums/72157641244124604

Thanks for the great advice. Will be checking the belt line the next time out in the garage and the start to look for NOS strikers.


thanks again
Tom

I have the exact same issue with my 1950 model 3100.. I just bought a service manual and it said to loosen the bolts for the door hinges. The cab side and the ones on door side.. Both sides of the hinges have some adjustment room. When the weather here improves a bit I plan on removing the door strike and loosen those bolts and see if I can't get it to fit like it should.

Brad, do you have a similar set of instructions for the later A-D striker plate (catch and latch)?

Or, would the instructions be the same?

Tim,

I have never seen a filmstrip or manual like the above for the later cabs. They are substantially different in latches, strikers and even the attachment hardware and shim sets, thus they require a different adjustment approach.

I thought so, Brad

Thanks for the information/confirmation.