The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Doors Door alignment issues

I thought putting Altman latches on the doors would be a good thing, but once the passenger door was finished the formerly aligned door is messed up! Big surprise to many, I'm sure.....
Any ideas on how to get the bottom of the door back into place? The front of the door is good, as is the top.

Couple of basic questions.
Were the hinges completely removed from door and the frame?
Just the door or just the frame?

Is it latched in the photos or just swung in?

From the looks of the last picture, the rear of the door needs to come up just a bit to match the reveal lines. That will decrease the gap a bit at the bottom rear. Like hcb3200 mentioned, if it's completely latched, the striker may need to come up just a bit on the B-pillar. That might indicate that the hinges are worn a bit. The door should line up properly with the striker removed, and installing it shouldn't move it up or down when latched.

Moving your post over to the Doors subforum where it'll be more on-topic.

It is funny you happen to be a post I saw as I was working on my door as well.
This video gives some really good basics to keep in mind when adjusting. as in if you adjust it here its going to affect there.
It is not a truck video but it the same concepts

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiTe9QKardE

Did you rebuild the door hinges?
If so, I would suggest that you remove the striker from the lock pillar and readjust the door. The latching of the door can create issues with lining up doors.
Keep in mind that each adjustment made to correct one issue may cause another.
Did these doors ever fit right?

I did rebuild the hinges before installing the latch, and the alignment was pretty good prior to that. TThe pictures do show the door in the latched position. Thanks for the tips. I'm going to put them to use this afternoon, I hope. Got some leaves to rake first, according to boss lady

I did rebuild the hinges before installing the latch, and the alignment was pretty good prior to that. The pictures do show the door in the latched position. Thanks for the tips. I'm going to put them to use this afternoon, I hope. Got some leaves to rake first, according to boss lady

Please keep in mind if your hinges are good (no play, no wiggle and rebuilt keeping the same pin location) a tiny difference in adjustment at the hinge end side can make a notably larger difference at the latch end side. A little movement is often all that's needed. Usually what I'll do is get the doors installed as you've done and then loosen them at the hinges and holding my finger down there to feel move the door in/out just a mm or so, tighten and try that. Also...if your door sits in or out (from the body) at the latch end you may either have to bend the hinge (the part which fits into the door) or in some cases you can either use shims on the back side of the hinge or file the hinge bolt holes a bit to make the difference you need. If you draw this on paper it is easy to see what I mean. The long part of the hinge that fits into the door will often either need the far end of it moved out or in to make the door sit right.

And I have seen doors where the cab had to be "adjusted" to make the body lines and door lines match correctly. This happens when the mounting pads either shrink/deteriorate or are replaced with some that are too thick or the rear mounting grommets have worn out, causing the same thing. Essentially the body flexes enough (front to rear) to make the door opening a bit wonky. It may not sound like this should happen but it can. In this case it is pretty close to impossible to correct it with adjustment. Good luck!

Thanks for all of the advise! Looks like what I'll be doing next weekend.

It is good to hear that the doors alignment was "pretty good" before.
In Chevrolet door-speak, "pretty good" means absolutely fabulous.
Take the striker off of the lock pillar and make like a monkey on a football and wrangle that door into place. Try to keep your cussing volume below what the neighbor kids can hear. Just don't bottle up your feelings.

I can teach you a few words in Russian. Probably nobody will understand them but yelling them out at full volume might make you feel better. Pizdets is used commonly for "disaster!" but it can also mean stronger things so if any of your neighbors came from Russia you might be careful. Gavno! is probably better. That means pretty literally "cow droppings."

A few German swear words might be helpful too. Much harsher sounding than Russian.

We're here to help.

Use good old fashion American words. Door alignment will make you cuss.
No matter how you say it. Matters little if you think people dont understand you.

Kids need to learn them from somewhere. Door alignment frustration provides them with what the appropriate circumstance calls for their usage.