The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Door Alignment question????

This is for a 1958 Fleetside, short bed, 2 wheel drive.

I just hung the passenger side door. And the lower left hand side of the door is about 1/2 an inch too far from the body. The top is perfect. The lower hinge has been slide as far to the left as it will go. What is the next adjustment? The striker plate has not been installed. This is only a rough install, so I make all major adjustments now.

you might try adjusting the top out a bit so you can push the bottom in, but in some cases when the curve of the door doesn't match the curve of the body, perfection will require judicious bending remember these were cheap consumer goods in the day and rarely came off the line with perfect fit .... also, if you don't have the rubber seal on yet, make allowance for it

Bill

As Bill mentions the fit and finish was never 100% and add to that the 'trauma' the truck may have experienced in over 50 years use.

I spent a long time working my door hinges to achieve an acceptable fit.i.e. filing out bolt holes etc.
And even then they're not 100% perfect,but a dang sight better than they were.
Most importantly,be patient....

Admitedly mine's an AD but the principles are the same regardless.

Once you're happy with the fit,drill an 1/8" hole through the hinge plate into the the pillar,that way if you remove the doors for paint/bodywork,you can then re-fit using the 1/8" hole for alignment.(A tip I got here at the 'bolt)

Good luck.

Okay, so I am a bit at a loss to see how to bend the door. In my mind I see the attachment points as moving as much of the cab as moving the door.

Any advice would be appreciated.

usually the only bending you can do will be at the top, in the area the window joins, carefully .... that is if the problem is that the door "stands proud", door too flat top to bottom .... if the problem is the door doesn't "fill the opening" [not clear from your original post], and you can't move it rearward with the bolts inside the door, you might be able to gain a bit by filing out the holes as Jock mentions, or pad out the pillar side with some washers .... but I'd wonder how it fits at the front and why it doesn't fit the opening at the bottom as well as it does at the top

did you try moving the other hinge? a good way to start is have both hinges bolted just finger tight so they can be moved with a bit of force - close the door carefully and try to muscle it to the best positioning you can, even use a padded pry tool in the gap and wedge it in place - leave it closed, get inside and tighten one or more bolts at each hinge side, then see how it opens/closes ... the fit of the TF doors can be frustrating, tedious, and is always a compromise!

Bill

The door fills the opening. The door actually fits well, with one exception.


Evidence While the image is not all that clear, the area at the bottom left of the door is about 1/3" from the body.

hard to tell what I'm seeing there, how come the door doesn't appear to go all the way down? is the bottom door skin missing? just the inner shell showing there? cab corner been replaced? and the cab is off the frame? could be a bunch of problems there, or maybe none at all by the time you get the metal work done

a shot of the whole door would be better, looks like the gap may be widening at the bottom, and the lower crease line is low [and the pin stripes] which means it needs to swivel up at the back, forward at the top, but it doesn't look like a terrible fit at this stage, need the cab bolted onto the frame and the front sheet metal together before you do the final fitting and can judge the real positioning of the doors, need to watch the fit on all 4 sides at once

Bill

The last 2 inches or so of the bottom, outside of the outside of the door has not been installed yet.
I thought it would be easier to to bend the door or make other modifications while it was open.

I think it'd be best to get pieces done and things more assembled before worrying about perfection, cuz what I see there is a pretty good fit

Bill