Door Alignment

[mrsalt]

I'm a newbee to this forum... Looks like some great info!
I just bought a 1987 2wd Silverado with only 35,000 miles. All original expect for tires and rear bumper. The doors are hard to close and don't appear to close completely. Both doors appear to have a problem but the driver's is worse. The gaps around the door look good but you can tell, especially at the botton that it isn't fully "seated". I can also push on the door a bit and feel some give. Does anybody have any idea on the best way to make this adjustment? It seems odd this truck has this issue with the low miles (documented) and no paint work. I checked it over pretty well and this appears to be true.

Any help you guys can give will be greatly appreciated!

[mrsalt]

Anybody have any ideas? I would appreciate any suggestions. Thanks for the help!

[Don M]

Look at the post in the door jam that the latch locks onto. This is called the Door Striker and it should have a gray plastic insert on it where the latch strikes it. If the plastic is missing you need to replace the Door Strikers. If the plastic is in place, you can loosen the Door Striker and move it inward a 1/6th of an inch or so to get the door to close tighter.

The sponsor of this site has Door Strikers for your truck.

Don

[Pontiac1976]

I pretty sure Don has nailed on the head.

[holcombj]

Do you have to slam the doors closed? If so,you might also want to check the door hinge pin bushings. Just grab the bottom of the door and see if you can pull it up and get any slop out of it. It shouldn't be a problem with only 35,00 miles, but its always safe to check

[mrsalt]

Thanks for the info guys.

I do have to push the door closed firmly but I wouldn't describe it as slamming. I did check for play in the pins and they seem solid. I thought about adjusting the strikers but I don't think there would be enough agjustment and I also noted the top of the door seems to be too far in and the bottom too far out. I know the quality control on these trucks wasn't great but I've seen others with many more miles that are much better. I'm as far from a body man as you can get so I plan to get a local shop to take a look. If anybody has any more suggestions that would be great. You can't always trust you have a reputable shop. In the meantime, I'll keep everyone posted. I'll post some pics soon.

Thanks again!

[mrsalt]

Don M,

I do see the plastic sleeve is missing on the passenger door and cracked on the driver's door. The one on the driver's door is painted. Would all these factors, including the doors are way out of line at the bottom, suggest this isn't an orignal 35K truck with original paint?

Thanks for the reply!

[Don M]

The door strikers were installed after the truck was painted at the factory, so paint on the striker is an indication that area has been repainted. The misalignment of the doors is an indication that repairs may have been made. Nether of these factors have anything to do with the mileage on the truck, just indications that repairs have been made.

Determining if the actual mileage on a vehicle matches what the odometer indicates or the seller is stating is very difficult. Here is a tip that I use when looking a vehicle and questioning the mileage, look at the lower right corner of the rubber cover on the brake pedal. If the cover has very little wear and you can see the ridges distinctly, vehicle probably has less than 50K on it. If the ridges are gone and corner is worn flat, 75K to 100K. If the corner is worn through and metal is showing, 125K and up. If the cover is brand new and the odometer or seller states something like 50K be very leery. I’m not the only one that knows this trick. Look at the carpet under the gas pedal where your heel rests, that is another area that can give you an indication of the mileage.

Before you take the truck to someone for repairs, replace both of the door strikers, you will be surprised at how much better the doors will operate. Door strikers are not very expensive; if I remember correctly I paid $7 a piece for the last ones I bought. This is a common problem with the door strikers and has nothing to do with the mileage on the truck, just age. I’m no chemist but my guess is the grease and/or oil used causes the plastic to deteriorate.

When replacing the strikers mark the location of the old strikers with a marker or tape before you remove them. This will give you a good starting point when adjusting the new ones.

Please post some pictures if you can, I would love to see what an 87 with 35k on it looks like. My 87 has 367K or 467K on it.

Pictures of my truck:
http://mysite.verizon.net/diverdn/1987%20truck.htm

Don

[mrsalt]

Thanks Don.

I'll check the pedals and carpet again. I know this little trick as well and I think the pedal looked correct. Not new but minimal wear. However, this can be can be acheived by artificially "wearing" it. It's tough. I have copies of the original titles that state the mileage to be correct but the first owner had it for 20 years so there isn't a good trail.

I saw the pics of your truck, Nice! Your doors definitely look better than mine. I'll get some pics of mine soon. It's been raining almost everyday since I bought the truck!

Thanks again for the info. I'll keep you posted!

[The Carpenter]

That's a nice looking truck for 400k miles Don.
I'm guessing my '87 at 160k or 260k and I WISH it looked that good.
My doors both need hinge bushings. I've been driving around with them in the door pocket for a couple of years now.
Good luck with finding a good body shop. I've given up and am just figuring on learning to do it myself.
I think the hinge bolts are in adjustable slots for the pitch in and out ???

[Don M]

Thanks for the complement. I spent about a year going through everything on this truck. New GM crate engine, rebuilt transmission (700R4), rebuilt rear end, cut out all the rust and welded in new panels, paint, modified the AC system… the list goes on and on.

Adjusting the doors on these trucks can be time consuming, I spent a whole day just getting the adjustments like I wanted them before I painted and put the finders on.

You are correct, the hinges are adjustable, loosening the bolts that go into the door allows for in and out adjustment and the bolts that go into the cab allow for forward and backwards adjustment of the door. Loosening the door bolts in order to adjust the in and out is not a problem however the cab bolts are very difficult or impossible to get to with the finders on. Maybe someone with more experience will jump in and tells us a way to do it without removing the finders.

Be careful with the adjustments, if you get the door too far out the door will hit the finder when opening and closing and chip the paint.

Don

[mrsalt]

Hi Don,

replacing the striker plastic did the trick. Adjusted the striker to the factory position and they are perfect. Who would've know the plastic makes so much difference.

I would question whether the trucks are painted without the striker installed. When I removed mine bare steel was evident. Seems to suggest they painted this one at the factory with the stikers in place?

[Don M]

Glad to hear the strikers fixed your problem.
I thought for sure the truck was painted before the strikers were installed, but I can’t argue with what you found. Hum…my wife keeps telling me that I’m wrong… maybe I should pay more attention to her………Nah.
Don

[Pontiac1976]

Most I seen that have factory paint do not have any paint behind them but the washers stricker might be painted (over spray) or not. I think there might had some on before paint or something in the move on the Line. I think it come down to the plant it came from.