Door Alignment 101 - how much to expect?

[Fireball05]

Question for the body men and experienced Bronco owners,

I spent about an hour on each door the other evening playing around, shimming, adjusting and aligning. It was a lovely use of 2 hours and 2 Coors Lights.

The passenger side looks pretty darn good, if I do say so myself. The back edge of the driver side however leaves a little to be desired. I think I've reached the limit of my expertise, so I'd like to present the following photos to ask either for advice on how to make it better, or thoughts from others with more experience that this is about as good as it will get on a 37 year old car that probably didn't come from the factory looking any better!

The attached photos show the driver side after lots of minor fiddling. All gaps are pretty darn even, and everything fits nicely except the rear edge of the door to the quarter panel. It sticks out maybe 1/8", or roughly the thickness of the door skin. Based on my limited skills/abilities/experience, I'd say at this point the door itself would need bent/rotated to fit any better.

But again, I defer to the experts and will await your opinions! Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[allenfahey]

When we did your bed liner we removed the rubber. Did you replace the rubber yet? You should have all the rubber in place before you start adjusting the door. I would do that first.

 

[sp71eb]

Well if the rubber weatherstrips are in the doors and still not fitting. I would try what I call the towel trick. Tightly roll up a towel or sweatshirt and put it into the door jamb at the rear top. Then carefully with flat palms press on the lower corner of the door. Keep your hands flat as to not dent the door. I can't tell you how much tweaking it will take but go slow and keep closing the door to test fit. The idea of it is to hyper-extend the door to tweak it into the desired fit. You might hear some nice pops while doing it.

 

[Fireball05]

Yes Allen, new seals installed on both sides. Both doors require a very firm push to close all the way. I adjusted the striker plate on both sides outwards just a bit to try and help compensate for the new seals.

I actually removed the driver side seal to see if it was effecting the alignment, but it wasn't. Same with it on or off... The door did close much much easier with it off

 

[cldonley]

x2 on the towel trick. I have used a piece of 1x4 pine in the jam, keeping it off the outer skins to do the same thing. You'll be surprised how well and how quickly it works; beware not to overdo it!

 

[Fireball05]

For the towel trick, do I want the towel just touching the door skin, or touching the main part of the inside of the door?

And just to confirm, place the towel up high, next to the door handle, near the bodyline, above the keyhole? Is that correct? I am doing this in an attempt to actually tweak/rotate the door, right?

Thanks!

 

[ilovemaui]

I have the same problem. I'd love to see someone post a picture of the towel technique.

 

[broncodriver99]

Mine is the same way. Seems to be a pretty common one.

 

[viper982]

I am having door fitment issues as well. I am defiantly interested in trying the towel trick. Can you use shims behind the hinges? If so what kind? Sorry not trying to hi jack!


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[broncoitis]

Yeah, I gotta play with my door alignment as well. Could be better on both sides.

 

[BronCowie]

Door fit issues R us in Hillsboro... please keep this thread going.

 

[BluebroncoNC]

Good luck, I finally ended up purchasing a second set of door rubber, from china, softer and even then trimming the door trim a bit to get the doors to line up 1/2 way decently. I hate to say it, but I had days into the door alignment, not hours.

 

[bk005]

This

+ This

= This

 

[cldonley]

This

+ This

= This

What he said. Pics are worth 1000 words!

 

[Fireball05]

Well, using the towel trick got it pretty good. Not perfect, but the bottom tailing edge of the door is pretty far out of whack.

 

[Crude dude]

Bottom tailing edge? It looks really good in the picture you posted, is it noticeable from the side? Glad someone mentioned cheap Chinese door seals, I have to order some and not sure if I need to go the expensive route or do the cheap chinese...I know one of them doesnt fit real well.

 

[BluebroncoNC]

Glad that worked out on the fit/bulge aspect, not sure about the other issue you're having. My issues were along the lines... The doors lined up great without Weatherstripping, but once added the doors bulged out all over the place. However, I wonder now if this fix wouldn't have helped me tweak some of the fixes in a quicker manner.

Glad you had the smarts to ask here first (something I lack at times).

 

[Fireball05]

The door itself was pretty tweaked. The towel trick did indeed twist it back into a better shape. If you look at the picture posted above vs. the very first post, you can see a noticable difference.

That being said, it still isn't perfect. However, I had Kenny in the back of my mind thinking "know when to walk away..." It's good enough for me!

FWIW, I have new door seals from Dennis Carpenter that I ordered through JBG. They are nice seals and work well. The seal doesn't effect the fit on my doors. You will have to play with the front and back edge of the door frame opening though. I have a nice tight seal all around, but it is not pushing the door out or making it bulge. The seals do make the door hard to shut, they require a very firm close. Now that the alignment is better, and it looks very good from the outside, I can live with the firm closing.

That is my $.02

Oh, one more thing... I'd better keep my day job, no future as a body man for me!

 

[BluebroncoNC]

That being said, it still isn't perfect. However, I had Kenny in the back of my mind thinking "no when to walk away..." It's good enough for me!

Yup, I have to keep reminding myself, this isn't a show truck, I'm building something to drive, not trailer around or sit pretty in my garage.

 

[BabyBronco]

Interesting post. Good to know about the towel trick. My door has always bothered me on the drivers side. Do you guys think the door is just bent here or perhaps it's the jam that seems to have been patched at one point?

Looking for some recommendations. Pretty new to this, and my first post here.

Btw its a 71. Thanks!

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