The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Interiors Inner door panel finish

I refinished the inner door panels on my ‘55.2, and added an armrest to the right side, the door frame already has threaded inserts, just need to drill new holes in the inner panel. Turns out Rust-oleum Gloss Almond(376900) matched the paint color.

Ed

Looking good Ed! Merry Christmas!

Nice job Ed! Looks great and a good match.

Hello Ed,

what you got looks good, your creation? is it metal and the sides hemmed?

I see that you must have pushed the two holes for the window crank shaft and opener shaft pushed-out 1/8" or so, did you do this on a shop press with special dimple dies?

Did you roll the nice re-enforcing bead?

My 1953 was re-done, but with the aftermarket cardboard & stainless trim. I changed the bolts to SS and 10-24 thread inserts plus SS clips. It looks okay, but yours beats mine by length.


PS. I got to learn this photo inserting trick.

Joerg

Joerg - I fixed you pictures to display correctly above. Trying watching this Video by Bolter klhansen to help you post pictures.

Joerg, not to criticize, but from looking at your pictures, it appears you have the trim strip on you door panels on backwards. The exposed side should be the shorter leg. The exposed side should look like the attached pic. You have the clip at the joint on the bottom correct. The screw goes thru the clip between the panel and the door and completely covers the trim on the outside. The screw on the attached closeup is temporary, just for holding the trim on the panels before I installed them

Joerg, the picture Ed showed us was from a 55 second series not from a AD that you have, so the door panels are different. Kevin nailed it on the head, your trim is installed incorrectly.

Ha, that's how I got the truck and never questioned or tried the trim the 'other way around', but will now.

Thanks, never to old to learn, I guess.

Still like Ed's panels and I will, some day do some experimenting. Question: is Ed's panel sheet metal?

Joerg

Joerg, Ed's panels sure look like sheet metal to me, but I'm not familiar with 55.2 trucks. Been too long since I've seen one in person.

On your panel trim, you'll need to swap them to the opposite panel because of the panel shape. There's a right and a left to panel and trim.

That is well understood!

The Task Force (55.2 - 59) panels are steel, Ed's are in nice shape.

Okay,

So I reversed the trim (left door trim to right door cover panel and vise versa). All looks much better, but the good (I assume) Chinese aftermarket cardboard panels are 1/10" less in height than they should be and pop out at the top. I have bend the trim slightly, but it still is not enough to hold them in. Probably the reason why the former owner installed them 'inside-out'.

One option would be to clue the top part of the trim with clear super-clue to the top part of the trim and hold it in-place on the workbench until it has hardened.

Still can't get the image manager to work. (fixed by Mod)

I will be quiet until early February!

Looks a lot better.
The trim can be gently bent to match the edge of the panel and stay on, but glue from the back isn't a bad idea either.

Hello,

I noticed something on my 53 1/2 ton, the driver side door handle has to be pushed forward to open the door, the passenger door handle needs top be pulled to open.

Did the previous owner or restoration person just assemble the opening mechanics on the driver side wrong?

Also the driver door doesn't close/hook/latch good, any suggestions?

Thinking about the door panels on Ed's 55.2, one should be able to make them from sheet metal. Probably much nicer than the cardboard stuff. Could be more noisy?

The inside door handle mechanism may have been installed incorrectly or the wrong side mechanism used. On the later models, including your '53, the bar going to the latch doesn't lay in the recess in the door.

Adjusting the door latch is a bit difficult. The Service Manual should cover how to do it, but if it's worn, as most driver side latches are, it may need to be rebuilt or replaced. I welded on my latches to resurface them, but I have the earlier style that uses the pull-down outside handles. I haven't worked on later latches.

If you install the handles up instead of down you will pull instead of push to open the door. I know this isn’t factory but it works.

Here is a previous post of mine explaining the issue in better detail.

Hello Phil,

I fix the issue by turning the opening actuator assembly were the door handle (square shaft thingemaging) mounts to upside down (as I had read somewhere else in this forum) and it works fine now.

Just the drivers door only locks with the right closing force. To much and it holds only in the first latching sequence and the same if you don't 'bang' it enough. It is the 1.25 G-force latching force that is needed

My thought is that the new rubber door seals cushion the closing somehow. The properly closed door also sticks-out a 1/4"