The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Door Alignment, same project, new problem

Truck: 1949 Chevy 3100
My door alignment project has thrown another problem at me. For those of you who are not familiar with my passenger side door dilemma, my passenger side door “ate” something back in the day. Not sure what it was, but something got closed in my door by the hinges. Fortunately there was virtually no cosmetic damage done. However, I am sure the top of the door is twisted inward, which has required me to bend the hinges to make the door close and latch properly. Currently the door is looking much better than it did originally, it opens and closes perfectly. The gaps however are not good; also the door is sitting about a 1/8 of an inch too low. If the door could come up higher I could adjust it properly and it would be perfect.
I have read the tech article about how to adjust a door. My hinges are adjusted all the way upward and tighten. Also I have put a floor jack under my door to support it while I adjust it up as high as it will go. All of my hinges are tight, the passenger side hinges are brand new and the driver sides have new pins. As stated my passenger side door is 1/8 inch too low, while my driver side door is only a 1/6 inch too low. I have spent hours adjusting both doors to try and fix the problem; I have simply run out of ways to adjust the doors. Friday I am going to spend yet another day trying to fix my doors. Does anyone have any suggestions for me? I may have a friend of mine who is in my MBA class look at my truck, he used to own a body shop and have offered to give me a hand. However, his drive would be about an hour long, I would rather save him a trip if I could.

If your truck was damaged sometime in the past and not fixed correctly the door opening could be racked. It's difficult to explain but cross jacking with a port-o-power with one end pushing against the bottom jamb opposite the hinge and the other end pushing against the upper hinge area may get enough movement to address your problem. In the grand scheme of things 1/8" isn't a lot. It would take very little movement of the upper hinge to raise the back of the door 1/8". Understand that without looking this is just a guess of one possible explanation.

This is what I had to do with my driver side door. I did it VERY gradually testing each time. It actually took several days of gradual adjustments to finally get it in line.

While an 1/8 inch doesn't sound like alot, it sticks out like a sore thumb. I have the latch side of the door all set, it is the hinge side of the door which is low. I have some ideas for tomorrows trial and error, any ideas are appreciated.

Got pics?