adjusting doors

[ggdad1951]

got the doors on tonight...but the passenger (non orignal replaced door) needs to go forward a little up top....what's the best way to bend the hinge(s) as the shop manual says to do? It's REALLY tight where I have the shop towel in the door in the picture.

[Plymouthy Adams]

hmmm.what went wrong from the time you prefit the door and did the body till the time it was painted and put back on?

[ggdad1951]

I never prefit the doors, Dave did all that, so I have no idea.

Could the cab be shimmed to help? I have no shims in there now, but there were some when we tore down....and of course I didn't note where

[Plymouthy Adams]

oooh..dang shame..discovery of this needed to be done before painting..hopfully you can get it down without boogering the paint job..I once bent a hinge back in line for a guy but did it off the vehicle in the vise..little more trouble but saved the paint job and only had to touch up the hinge itself..good luck..I know this is disappointing

[Plymouthy Adams]

as an aside here, can you enlongate the mounting holes a tad to increase you adjustment range..not sure what direction you need to go but have done this before also..and have used hinge matched homemade shims where I had to go in opposite direction

[Desotodav]

From the photo, it looks like you just have to go slightly forward a bit Mark. The fold in the door about 2" down from the window ledge should correspond with the one toward the back 'B' pillar of the cab and yours looks pretty close. The manual shows a crude way of adjusting the doors with that method involving a wooden block and a bit of pressure applied in the right area of all things! I managed to get some adjustment out of the doors on my 52 truck by lifting (or pushing?) them in the correct position with the door slightly opened. I would imagine that you wouldn't need much of an adjustment. Be mindful that the dovetail might pull the door into position when it connects with the latch - so keep that towel handy to avoid chipping paint!

Desotodav

[Dave72dt]

Hinge bolts need to be tight versus snug or loose enough for adjustment. With the door off and top hinge bolted solidly in place, padding the hinge pocket, you can move the pivoting section forward using appropriate force. Was that the green door?

[ggdad1951]

Hinge bolts need to be tight versus snug or loose enough for adjustment. With the door off and top hinge bolted solidly in place, padding the hinge pocket, you can move the pivoting section forward using appropriate force. Was that the green door?

yep, the drivers looks good.

"appropriate use of force": whacking the hinge pivot bracket with a BFH on a padded block?

The guys helping me seemed to think it was the cab being tweaked, but that just seems an odd way to fit a door, shimming the cab around.

[Dave72dt]

It might be possible and I"d try it before whacking it. All cab bolts loose yet? Try loosening them one at a time and see it if changes. I'm thinking the RF bolt first and check both doors when you do.

[HanksB3B]

When I got to this stage (and this continues to be my Mantra)...

"It's about the Paint"

No matter what you do, no matter who goes near your truck,

"It's about the Paint"

Hank

[JBNeal]

Ya might want to keep the cab bolts loose and loosely hang the fenders & grille panel and the hood. That way all the sheet metal can be moved around on the truck to get fender gaps the way ya want and especially to line up the grille panel over the frame rails. Once your fenders are lined up, then the door alignment can be fine tuned. My guess is that when the cab + doors were installed at the factory, there was an alignment jig used against the frame to speed things up on the line before the fenders & grille panel were installed. If the cab centerline is not parallel with the frame centerline, and the grille panel is centered over the frame rails, then the fenders will not be lined up to the doors with the same gaps.

When I put the front sheet metal back on the '48 after I re-worked the motor, I centered the grille panel over the frame rails, but then the fenders didn't line up with the doors, and the hood was hard to unlatch on one side. So I went back and loosened everything to line up the fenders and the hood. But then the grille panel would only line up over one frame rail. After crawling up under the truck to see if I missed something, I found that the frame was tweaked in one of the accidents my great-grandfather had in the truck before Grandpa took the key away from him. So now all of the sheet metal has to come off to re-work the frame properly...yaay