New door seals seem to be too thick

[rydog1130]

What brand of door seals are we talking about delconick sells

special proprietary blend of rubber....only available through nick

 

[Jfryjfry]

I’d be happy to try those fancy seals but for now I just cut the thick middle section out of the seal and it shuts great as it’s supposed to.

I do think I am going to put some dabs of silicone or something to hold it in place, especially in the corners.

 

[bronkenn]

I used WH seals and I trimmed off the lower flap that has the push pins in them and installed the front and rear to the door flange and they fit really well. Used 3M weatherstrip adhesive along the bottom by the rocker and on door flange.

 

[71broncman]

Same problem here with the WH seals after my paint job. Seals were so tight they were pushing the bottom of the door out 1/2" or so. Also my wife couldn't push the door handle button hard enough to open the door from the outside. It's been 6 months now and they are better somewhat but when it finally warms up here I will park it in the sun and see what happens. I had 2 electric heaters inside the Bronco blowing on each door for about 2 weeks at first and that seemed to help quite a bit. Now only have 1/4" at bottom and my wife can get in without me having th push the button for her.
Mark.

 

[onpier55]

I just installed the seals from wild horses. They are real soft. I am extremely happy with how they fit. Especially after reading old threads before I got to that point. Passenger side closes great. Drivers side has to slam. Not because of the seals. Probably from crumpled panels. Lol.

 

[MarsChariot]

Thanks Nick. Good to know.

And just to bring up another aspect of hard-to-close Bronco doors, it's not always the fault of the seals.

Paul, I will follow up your comment with an actual observation! When I did the off-the-frame restoration on the 71, my original seals, bought right over the counter at the Ford dealer way back when, were still good, so I saved them and re-installed them when I was re-assembling everything. Darned if the doors wouldn't close right like they did before. They were perfect before. Now it was like the seals were too stiff. In the restoration process I obviously had the doors off and things went back together a little differently. My conclusion is that, at least in my case, it was door alignment that had changed, not the seals. So it is confirmed that door alignment can be a big factor even with the same seals.

 

[DirtDonk]

Good info Mars. Thanks for bringing that up.
Just to add my own bit, right before the Roundup I finished tweaking with the driver's door on mine. Lubing and adjusting the mechanism(s) actually made a huge difference (as expected) and so I thought I was pretty well done with it. But later I also made a couple of very small tweaks to the alignment and it got even better still!
So now my driver's door closes slick city. Still takes a bit of a firm pull, so not quite like when it was new. But it latches fully every time now and does not need to be slammed.

Very happy about that, but still trying to figure out the passenger side.
I thought it was the seal at first, but after looking at it more have almost ruled it out at this point. Gonna' have to put on my Sherlock Holmes cap and see what is binding it up at the last 1/2" or so.

Paul

 

[JohnJohn]

I was checking out one of the nicest broncos I had ever seen at the Carlisle ford nationals several years ago. They guy spent over $200k to have his bronco built. I can't find my pics but it is in several advertisements and is a multi tone brown bronco. They also had door weather strip issues on the build and the solution was to cut the tops off of each weather strip then mount just the tops. Each end of the door weather strip is unique but the rest of it can be replaced. They replaced the majority of the weather strip with a hollow D shaped hollow weather strip with an adhesive backing. It looked very clean.
I wish I had never put that black weather strip 3M glue on my door openings because it is a nightmare to get off. I cut my weather strips and used the same D shaped weather strip on my frame off 77 and don't regret it.
Here is a link to the weather strip I am talking about.
It may not be for everyone but it is another solution.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B012NMCVFE/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=AKNUSI5SDKOF5&psc=1

 

[JohnJohn]

I found the pics.

 

[deltabronco]

For what it’s worth I went to Home Depot and bought some rubber weatherstripping with adhesive on one side. It’s soft, cheap and works like a champ. Showed a bunch of people at SC and they were pretty impressed.

 

[MarsChariot]

..... the solution was to cut the tops off of each weather strip then mount just the tops. Each end of the door weather strip is unique but the rest of it can be replaced.

This sounds interesting but I am having trouble understanding what is being described. But this is precisely the sort of solution that many of us come back to this site to read about. Could be interesting. More info!

 

[bigmuddy]

He kept the original piece of the window strip (the large ends that are held on by screws) He then is just replacing the rest that goes down around the door. Or frankly he may be doing the opposite, replacing the large pieces and keeping the rest that goes around the door opening

 

[73azbronco]

So 10 years later, no one has made a softer or thin enough door weatherstrip?

 

[JohnJohn]

He kept the original piece of the window strip (the large ends that are held on by screws) He then is just replacing the rest that goes down around the door. Or frankly he may be doing the opposite, replacing the large pieces and keeping the rest that goes around the door opening

Yep... keep the ends that screw in only then toss the rest and replace it with the D shaped weather strip with the adhesive backing. It took me 15 min to do both doors, looks great and fits great.
I also did not have to mess with the plastic push pins or the glue that never seams to hold.

 

[bigmuddy]

How about a couple of pics johnjohn? I can post them for you if you cannot: just text me 3149745095

 

[Rangerbj]

I too had same problems. Without weatherstripping the doors closed perfectly with no effort. Then I installed weatherstripping from one of our well know Bronco suppliers and the doors would not closed without SLAMMING them. No way, I cut the inner 1/2 out of them immediately before something broke. But I do like the idea of keeping old original ends that screw on and then buy at hardware store weatherstripping with the adhesive built in. Some one should tell part houses to make some thinner weatherstripping