The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop door leading edge rubs cowl

It's been cold so I decided to do some of the things on the 53 i've been putting off including door adjustment. Spent the last couple _ _ _, well a lot of time compromising myself to get them where i'm almost satisfied. But the RH front rubs the cowl when opened. Shop manual is vague with a one liner to bend the hinges. So I searched the threads and found a lot about up and down, fore and aft. Not so much on inboard outboard but did find the discussion on removing, heating and bending including the 2x4 in the door jam. My question is; before I proceed with screwing up what I've accomplished so far. How effective is the 2x4 trick? Does the door move fairly easy or might I lose what i've gained? The rub isn't a lot but I have to move the forward bottom out approx 3/16 to 1/4 to be in spec. Also, will this change much with new seals? I prefer minimize the trial and error since i do everything by myself and these doors are awkward at best. Any advise is appreciated
Bob

Do you think it's possible to cut the door jamb and move the cowl in? Since it's at the bottom the work won't be so obvious. Having completely replacing my cowls and fitting new doors, bending the hinges is something I would avoid at all cost.

The 2x4 trick is something you can try, but unless you have experience with this technique I'd go pretty slow with it and it's going to take a bit of effort to get it to move that much. Remember that the door is going to pivot at the other hinge so the whole door is going to move outward from the top hinge down.

In case you haven't seen this, HERE'S a picture of the hinge bending technique.

Personally, I'd cut the cowl.

I THINK I read that the door is to "set out" no more that 1/16 of an inch but I think this is to keep the weatherstripping from being rubbed off??? but like Woody says it would be better to work on the cowl.
Just last week the body man had to cut off some metal on one of the rear panel doors and on the other he actually added some metal to the edge to get the lines looking good. Over the years these trucks have been bent, twisted and heaven only knows what else to get the job done. Take your time and I'm sure you'll get it right.

Hmmm! To be sure I will take my time with this one. Guess I hoped there was a bag of tricks I was missing out on. I won't bother trying to get the shop up to a reasonable temp till the weekend, so maybe by then I'll go out there and everything will be right! Do ya think?
I did replace that lower jam and maybe induced or at least contributed to the problem. I did the lat/lon bracing but was really nervous about the cab shifting. Its all welded back together now with new inner, inner/outer, outer, and partial rocker so I'm not so sure how easily it will move. One way or the other, "i got ta git r dun".
Woody, I did see the hinge bending diagram. Didn't like the option, that's why i posted the question.
Thanks for the help guys

I have been through this so here goes. If the door is not too long for the opening then you should be able to correct this quite easily. The hinges have slotted holes in the door mounting straps. Just loosen the bolts and move the door back. If you are at the extreme end of a hinge hole simply make the hole longer. If I were adjusting for the bottom, I would leave the top snug but not tight, back off the bottom bolts and pull up on the rear of the door.

Bending the hinges is done to make the side of the door align with the contour of the cowl. I bent mine by removing the door, heating the strap at the bend point to orange and bending it. I used a piece of metal as a brace and a piece of pipe as a lever.

Don't overthink the fix. It's a sheetmetal issue, just get that stuff to line up without cutting into the structural parts. If the rest of the door fits well, just consider it an isolated issue otherwise you may wind up in a bigger mess than you are now.

A photo would be a big help because I'm just shooting blind here.

Hopefully, we're still in the pre-finish-paint stage?

I had the same problem AC53 & the way I solved it was to make short fat wooden wedges (shims)that I could tap in or out all around. This way I got the best possible position for the cab opening & the door shape. I also used some painters tape were the wedges touched the metal. Now the door clears the cowl with just enough room & maybe a hair or two extra but no more.
This worked for me. Hope this can help you.

Got the digital camera about the same time I started on the truck, a year ago and been so into the truck and getting what information I needed from the threads, I never bothered to learn how to post a pic. Guess its time! I was going to wait till after the doors fit to post bragging right pic's. Ain't there yet am I? I'll see what I can do.
The wood wedges are a good tip. Don't know the out come but worth a try. I'll save the bending technique for last resort and redo the whole adjustment process (again) since I at least know the door will fit the hole. Yes it is pre-paint.
I'll let ya'll know how it turns out. Thanks
Bob

You gota love it when a plan comes together. To make a long story short I used a little bit of everyones advise. Its a tight fit as far as door opening, no wiggle room. Went to my last resort and bent the hinges as described. Really wasn't as hairy as I thought it would be. Elongated the hinge slots. Found where I wanted to go with wooded wedges. After about three door off's (trial and error) all of a sudden there it was, good gap and no rub. Tonight I'm a happy bolter. I think I'll take the rest of the weekend off and work on my truck!
Thanks for all the feedback.

Bob, where would be the best place to find info on adjusting my drivers side door. Bottom edge towards the rear sticks out approx 3/8 inch.

Tedjr, Thats an entirely different problem than I had and I, by no means claim to be an expert door adjuster. Not my cup of brew. But you are in luck cause some bolter will help you, I'm sure. If you can't adjust the latch any more to pull it in, it sound like a contour deviation to me. Or sprung door. You may be able to improve the situation by readjusting the door up or down or angle it to fair in with the cab. What I did (above) improved the fit and fair all the way around. Do what I did, do a search. There is a whole section on doors. If you can't find the answer, post the question. There's a lot of help out here. Good Luck