The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop 1949 1/2 ton door alignment problem

Hi all,
Hope you had a great Thanksgiving! This is my first restoration so hope you can help. I have a question. I removed the doors from my 49 1/2 ton to apply new weatherstripping. Now they don't line up and the bottom of the door sticks out due to the weatherstripping??? I adjusted the doors up as high as possible. There doesn't seem to be any ability to pitch in/out??? Your collective wisdom will be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Wayne

I'm in the same situation and have been told by several people that getting body parts to fit is akin to a black art... Luckily, I have my choice of two restoration shops to tackle mine but I'll be watching this thread for any tricks.

I've never seen a vehicle of that era without in/out adjustment. Depending on the hinges the in/out could be either on the door side of the hinge or the pillar side. If you took the door off by releasing it from the hinges while leaving the hinges on the pillar the in/out is probably on the pillar side.

By far the most important thing to do before removing a door, hood or trunk lid (on a car) is to MARK THE BOLT HEAD LOCATIONS before you loosen them. That gives you a reference to go back to when reinstalling the panel.

If your door gaps around the edge are OK & the only problem is the door now stands a bit proud, mark the lower hinge bolt locations on the pillar side & loosen them. The door will be standing open when you do this with the weight of the door trying to push the hinge in. When you get the bolts loose that is probably what will happen, the hinge will move inboard to it's limit. Have a friend slowly raise the outside of the door while you watch the bolt location marks on the pillar. When the bolt head location is slightly inboard of the marks tighten ONE bolt & test the fit. If the proud condition is gone tighten the rest of the bolts. You may need to readjust the striker after doing the hinge adjustment.

If the in/out is on the door side you loosen the door side lower hinge bolts (after marking their location) and move the door inboard (usually toward the back of the truck with the door standing open). Tighten one bolt & check the fit as above.

Those are generic instructions but will work with most period vehicles.

WMA, I too, had a problem getting My doors to fit, but being
in the body business for so long, I decided to do whatever necessary to obtain 4 mm...When the AD's were manufactured uniform
lines were not priority, therefore many trucks & car's had body lines that looked like You could throw a cat through them with a
blindfold on...and its todays AD owners who must fight and sweat
long hours to get acceptable lines...
Here's what I had to do ! I heated the hinges to a glowing
red, and bent the hinges to obtain the in & out necessary, this of course, should be done prior to installing weatherstrip...its
not an easy job, but most AD owners aren't satisfied with half-
[censored]ed door fits...Without a weatherstrip, the door when shut should set in approximately 1/2 inch, then when installing the weatherstrip should be close to OK at the door lock piller.
My truck also had a unique problem, after obtaining the line
at the front fender I found both doors to almost touch at the lock piller, so I ground roughly 3/8 of a inch off both doors at
the lock end...then clamped two copper bars on each side of the cut, and mig welded, and ground the weld to fit...Sorry, this is a long winded post, but the main thing was to inform You what I
had to do...Hope it helps You. Bill B