Hello - After an afternoon of trying to hang the doors on my '51, I thought I'd ask the experts for any advice. I have the hinges already installed in the body (as Ol' Chebby has in his great posts) and have tried to slide the doors on the hinges, but they are not lining up so well. I see that the hinges have holes that are somewhat elongated, to allow for back and forth adjusting, and the hinges in the cab can move up and down a bit as well. I keep ending up with ill fitting doors no matter what I seem to do, or the darn hinges won't line up with the holes in the door. I am guessing that the answer is going to be somewhere along the lines of persistence, and tinkering with those doors until what little hair I have falls out. Just wondering if anyone out there has any handy tips or tricks that have helped them out - perhaps drilling out the holes a bit more? I was thinking that tomorrow I might try to mount the hinges in the door first, then mount them on the cab. The passenger side is the original door, but the driver's side is a replacement door. Thanks, I looked though the old archives but didn't seem to find any ideas. My neighbors are getting tired of seeing me sobbing! Thanks! Ed
Emergency over! - somehow I missed Ol' Chebby's tip about elongating the holes. I'm on it tomorrow! Ed
AD Doors Actually Ed ; Hanging doors correctly is always a time consuming chore . Once in a Blue moon it goes easily but that's why Body & Fender Men get paid ~ they have the experience , you'll get there , just take your time .
Our driver side door doesn't sit flush. The gap between the door and front end is uniform and smooth/level however the handle side of the door "sticks out" about 1/4 of an inch from the door handle downward. When shutting,you can tell that the upper part of the window is making contact to the cab first. I assumed that I could adjust the hinge bolts on the cab and get either the top to come out a little or the bottom to go in a little but they do not appear to be adjustable in that regards. Is this what you were referring to when you indicated to elongate the holes?
I spent many hours doing the door fit dance and was reasonbly satisfied until I went and installed the weather striping. I did the best I could and they close well (and stay actually stay shut when rounding a corner), but they may look as good as they ever did from the factory for all I have read. This is not a Packard - closer to a farm implement in the fit-up category. After all, it is a truck.
Our door wouldn't latch shut completely so I assumed it needed to be adjusted before strike plate was adjusted.
After You get the door to fit the hole, Get in touch Russ and put on the new latches and not those china clipper pieces of crap.
As I reviewed Ol Chebby's post it looks like he was talking about elongating the already oval hinge holds that mount inside the door, thus allowing for even greater horizontal adjustment (closer to the firewall or the bed as you stand looking at the side of the door). I found that the hinges (as they mount in the cab) can adjust up and down, so you can get a little bit of vertical adjustment. As far as adjusting the door so it is flush with the cab surface, there doesn't appear to really be any easy way to do that. Not sure though, I imagine some creative thinking (shims etc) could solve the problem!
Thanks Ron! That video was really helpful. I got rained out yesterday but will be at it next weekend. Thanks to everyone else for their support. What a great forum!
Ed, I don't know what equipment you have access to so what I'm passing on may not be of much help and it certainly is useless advice for one that has been finish painted. Ill fitting doors are the number one complaint we get on the AD's so we have come up with not a complete cure but a good treatment. We drill the holes out HUGE ( 3/4-7/8) and set the door in the cab with the hinges in place but not bolted. The door is shifted about till it gives the best fit and tack welded to the cab in that position. Now the hinges are put into position and checked to see what it will take to fit up to the door without moving the door out of it's position. Shims, bending, or twisting might all be needed. It's not easy or fast. Once everything fits flat against each other then a bolt with a large 3/8 fender washer is threaded in and pulled up tight. The washer is tacked into position. The hinges are removed and a plug with beveled edges and the same thickness as the hinge strap is welded into the large hole from the back side and then with the hole in the washer as a guide an exact fit hole is drilled in the newly installed plug. The washer is removed and the front side is welded and both front and rear are ground smooth. Picture of a 54 with "squared up" doors that are much better but not perfect.
Thanks Evan. I appreciate the detailed response. All good information which I will keep in mind as I take on the doors again this weekend. I do have access to some tools that will be needed, so I may well employ some of your ideas if things get a bit rough. Either that, or I will take up golf - Ed
You guys are great! Such eye for detail. I love it. Me I just drive mine. Large door gap and all Heck one of my doors is green... Ed post up pics when you get it done!!!
Pics are in the works. I decided to do an entire frame-off (it seemed like a good idea at the time - 8 years ago). Add in a divorce, and having the truck at my brother's house 1 hour away, and working on it for a few hours every other weekend, and the whole project has taken, ahem, a bit of time. But one fine day, hopefully while I am still vertical and breathing, there will be a finished truck!
