The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Panels 'N Burbs Panel rear door weatherseals

Brothers says on their website that the 47-54 cab door weatherseals will also work on 47-59 rear cargo doors. Has anybody tried this? The price is right and I need some for my 57.

if you need 57 barn door seals, the only place to get the right thing is at Steele Rubber, they've reproduced the exact right seals for the 55-59 trucks, anything said to fit 47-59 is a makeshift using side door seals with no molded corners

Bill

...all I can add is the seals on my 52 panel doors are different from the ones used on the back doors. Now I'm not saying they aren't interchangeable but I am saying they are different.

I have no doubt that Steele is the best way to go, however, the seals are likely to be replaced again down the road when the truck is painted. Steele seals are $100 more which figures out to about $50 per mitered corner. I guess I'll just have to try the 47-54 seals and see how they work.

I fought with sealing the back doors on my old '57 for years, until working on another TF panel I found a set of NOS barn doors that still had the original rubber, in very good condition - I sent them to Steele to reproduce, which is why they offer them now, there is no substitute

why would you have to replace the seals when the truck is painted? just take them off and reinstall them, they clip in and have the correct molded in metal tabs at the corners to hold it tight .... I can tell you from experience that the generic side door rubbers will not seal the TF barn doors well .... the drill is do it right or do it over ... how many wrong seals will add up to the cost of the right ones?

Bill

Is anybody making seals for the AD panel barn doors, or is using the side door rubber the (only) way to go?

Kurt

Steele Rubber
It might be: 70-0219-73 (it is different from the side door seal)
"Weatherstrip, door edge. Constant section on some models. 5/8" X 5/8" size, high grade, fine grain sponge."
http://secure.steelerubber.com/gifs/70021973.gif

Jim Carter has one that supposedly fits. Call them for the dimensions (cross section). The picture looks OK. About 6 years ago I bought the rubber from JC and it was wrong. They might have the right seal now.

http://www.oldchevytrucks.com/cart/product.asp?prodid=DP136&i=|panel%20rear%20door||

Kurt, yes, there is AD seals for AD panel rear doors. I need to go through my parts list to find if it came from Carter or Classic Parts.

Now, may I just voice an opinion about Steele Rubber Products. First I agree, their quality is very good and its VERY pricey compared to others.
Here is what I "know". Recently I needed a new rubber seal for my windshield frame on my 37. I paid DEARLY for the one from Steele and honest folks, the old one that I got from Carter over 10 years ago was/is just as good and has a better lip on it.
Next..I paid DEARLY for the wing vent rubbers for my 52 Panel and when I got them I compared them to the ones I had purchased from another vendor. Son of a gun, time will tell but the ones from Steele are waayyy over priced and I can't see the money difference they are cashing in on because they are suppose to be "the best". I rubbed them,put them in the sun and rubbed them to see how much ebonite I got off them.Steele was no better.
...also, I've been to the Steele store several times to pick up stuff for me and my buddies and if any of you think Steele makes all their stuff your mistaken. They buy quite a bit from other sources, and tack on the "steele price". I know for a fact one of their suppliers is Dennis Carpenter which is not very far from them. (Dennis is mainly into Ferd parts) I guess it depends on who has what "dies" but rubber stuff is swapped around just like Carter sells stuff to Classic Parts. Just like CPP sells stuff to Classic Parts and we buy from Classic. (my recent tie rod ends is a good example)...or the mounts I bought from Carter that came from CPP to.

All I really wanted to say is I, just me now, think all the alocades loathed on steele is a little off base. In MY OPINION.
In the end, buyers beward. Its your money. Now, no one ever accused me of not saying whats on my mine!!

a few things about 'what's on your mind' Alvin - yes, Steele is a distributor as well as a manufacturer, the same as Carpenter, who state that 85% of their rubber products are made in the US, meaning some things they sell can be made to their standards offshore ....
some parts that Steele manufactures are a fit and quality available from nowhere else, that is, it's an accurate reproduction [like the TF barn door seals], and like Carpenter, all they sell meets high standards, whether they've actually made it or contracted all or part of it ....

all major distributors have a policy of retailing their products at a set price, and the dealers they supply [at a discount from that "suggested retail"], are free to price the products lower - if you can find a better price for a particular item at one of the vendors, just ask who the supplier is, if they say Steele [for GM parts] you can trust it'll fit and work right, and you get a better price because Steele is honoring their agreement to not undercut their retailers - sometimes you can tell a vendor sells Steele products because they use the same drawings and descriptions as seen on the Steele site, Filling Station comes to mind for one - if they can't or won't tell you where the cheaper rubber came from, move on, it's likely Chinese [or SoffSeal], although Metro Molded Parts makes quality seals [and supplies Chevs of the 40's], but some correct parts can only be had from Steele [or Carpenter for Ford]

I've bought a lot of Carpenter stuff in the past and if I ever had another Ford, I'd buy from them again, they're the gold standard for Ford rubber, as Steele is for GM - sometimes piece of mind is priceless

Bill

...... I've been around the block quite a few times in my life to,Bill I do agree with what your saying. I also look at what years and years of dealing with suff/folks/experience tell me.

I have also been very involved over the years with companies becoming ISO certified and that is all about "standards". Time or space will not permit me to go into it but "standards" are so misleading today it's pitiful. Standards are what the up stream customer determines it to be and if a company(manufacturer) can squeeze one iota of chemical out of a piece of rubber or can of paint ect, and it still meet the customers standard they do it...(been there and done it) and the upstream customer (steele/Deenis) never knows because it still meets their "standard" but how many are on the low, or high side of the "go" or "no go".
Now,when any change is made, IS IT STILL THE SAME PRODUCT.
It'd interesting to see some spec sheets for THEIR product and also some test analysis data,if any is kept,to see how close, or far away, they really are from "standard".
Been to Steele & Dennis' place quite a few times myself and worked on many Fords ( last year the '50 got quite a few parts from Dennis).

Is the manufactured stuff they get still the same standard today or is it the "same product" we got from them 10 years ago?
The "bell shaped curve on quality can be "all over the board" and still meet their standard. Wonder if they ever heard of process control, process capability, a design of experiment blah blah blah and the list goes on to be or remain to be number 1.

The only way you really know is using items for the same purpose from 2 different suppliers. Then you know. Not many people will use that same item over again in their life time so I do agree with "piece of mind is priceless" and as always "if it makes you happy drink whatever brand you like".
I still regard Steele as a very good supplier of aftermarket stuff. I guess I step out of my optimist personality to a pessimist sometimes and look at things a little different. Folks use to say I"d put rocket fuel on a fire. I just like to see the "other side" sometime. Might be surprised at the results.
As always, I enjoy your comments Bill and I'm sure its all educational in some way. Thanks for you view of things as well.

I think my history teacher said it best back in the early 60's. Be well informed before making ANY decision. Explore all options.

I agree with exploring the options - when I first went looking for rubber parts that had become obsolete [pre-internet], Carpenter and Steele weren't as visible, and Metro was in every magazine - used their parts and was satisfied, but they had a limited range of specific parts back then ... later from a couple vendors I got some SoffSeal door seals - will never buy anything with that brand name again - really just leaves the 'big 2' along with Danchuk and Bob Drake, who likely both source most of their rubber parts from Steele and Carpenter, and 'Counter Parts', who I believe mostly deal Asian knock offs

one thing about changes in formulations over time - today standard rubber formulations are much superior to those in the past - I used to have to replace wiper blades on daily drivers pretty regular, ones from the FLAPS it was usually every year - I got a pair of Steeles when I was ordering some stuff and they've been on the '58 for a lot of years and still work fine, due I'm sure to a higher quality rubber with UV inhibitors

to bring it back on topic, there's no way I'd ever use the generic side door seals on the TF barn doors again, and Steele is the only supplier of the correct one, although I might have been able to send the originals off to someone else to be copied, I trusted Steele to do it right, and they did

Bill

....hey Bill, and Steele is the only one I found that had the round rubber grommet that goes on the bottom of the left door on AD's. I was going to make one but I figured I'd pay the "high price" of 10 bucks for that little sucker and use my time more wisely
Ditto the SoftSeal!

....and now, back to the TF barn doors.