I'm having a little trouble with a new door on my 86 C10. The passenger door is hanging a little cock-eyed. The bottom right side of door is way to close to the fender and the top left side of door is way to close to the pillar. Which of course means that the top right side and bottom left side of the door have big gaps. It's also making the latch about .5" inch to low on meeting the striker. Every time I close it I have to lift a little. I've taken the door off and tried to adjust the hinges on the cowl. I pulled them back a little to the rear and twisted them a little clockwise. It's better but still not quite right. A friend of mine suggested using "door shims". He said basically in my case you loosen the bolts on the bottom door-side hinge and slip the shims in. When closed it would basically move the door a little clockwise depending on the size of shims you use. Anyone have any thoughts on correcting this or on using the shims? I'm fairly new to this type of stuff and appreciate any and all opinions. Thanks.
Your source is correct, shim it. Shims are used on door hinges, body parts, ect to make a true alignment. My profession is a carpenter and I have to shim residential and commercial all the time. For these types of doors cardboard is used... yes cardboard. Cut into strips it is placed behind the hinge to alter the angle of the door to compensate for settling and untrue frames, houses. Same idea here. Shims can be bought at various places like bodyshops or made. You could use some scrap sheetmetal and cut the shims from this. They should look like a "U" so the bolt will go between the legs of the shim. Use as many as nessecary to get the alignment desired. Remember the door strike is adjustable also. It can be moved up, down, and in, out. Good luck and if you have any more questions, post. 79 C20 Bonanza 350/400 4bbl Q-Jet 3.73 14-Bolt Corp.
Thanks! I did not know the striker was adjustable as well. I will fiddle with that as well. I assume you just loosen the star screw on the end and slide it up or down?
Adjusting the striker may get the door closed, but if your door is out of alignment as you describe, you should shim it. If not, over time, the striker will start to wear, and you'll end up with the same problem. Did you make sure the pin bishings are not "pushed" out of the hinges. I've had this to happen on occasions, and most of the time it's the bottom hinge pin bushing that has worked itself free. The bushing is still around the pin, but not in it's designated hole.
I am having a little trouble with the pins on this side not sliding all the way down and it does look like the bushing may be missing on one maybe both hinges. I think I'm going to order new pins and bushings, get some shims, and try to readjust both hinges again. This time I'm going to mark the original location of both hinges on the cowl and then slide the top hinge forward about half an inch, the bottom one back about half an inch and rotate each clockwise just a little and replace the the pins and bushings in each. If that doesn't correct it I will then add the shims. Thanks for all the advice.
If you are having problens w/your 86 door hinges. Keep in mind, your hinges are OLD!! 18 yrs. Those doors way about 75 Lbs. & in 18 yrs. thats a ton of opening and closing. Dont waste your time w/ just new pins and bushings. Get NEW hinges, strikers & doors latchs. Sounds like your Bushings are bad by what you said that you have to lift up your door to close. When you lowered your striker you did not fix your problem. Only 1/2 way. I had to do the same thing, but i had to slam my door VERY hard too. You will have to get your door back up to where it belongs. The latch is about $80.00 upper hinge $30.00 lower hinge $25.00 door striker $10.00 If you put all these in like I did. It will CLOSE like new money I was amazed after i did mine. It closes so easy now. good luck
