I have a 1954 3100. At some time prior to my becoming the owner of this truck it had been backed up with the door open. I had to remove the front cowel panel and replace it with a new one. I have had some painting done and have been trying to get finished up. The door has been giving me night mares. It will not fit in the door frame. It has to much "out" at the bottom, and the door does not want to hang right. When the door is closed the strike side of the door is to low such that the upper edge of the door hits the rain gutter. I can lift tha end of the door and get it to fit in the opening but looseing and tightening bolts will not get it to stay. At this point I am almost ready to take up gardening. Can any one give me an idea to fix this?
i'm no expert, but i think someone posted some info on aligning doors (not bent ones, but maybe it will help). check the archives under "search". jon
Door problems Well, I'm sure no expert, I just asked a simular question some post back. But with the advise of others I found that to move the lower hinge up as far as you can make it go will bring in the bottom a little. I ended up having to remove the door and bend the hinge to make up for some more needed adjustment. It still needs a little more but havent had the time to fix it yet. The manual says "bend the hinge" it is a lot of trouble but it will move the door in. Question... is the opening large enough for the door after you fixed the cowl? My drivers side fits great. My problem is the passengers side. The bottom below the strike plate is out too far. The front is almost perfect, top on front and back fits great also. It's almost like the door is warped. I'm still working on it and it's coming a little at a time. TB'sD
Remember that the door once fit perfectly. The same hinges, the same door. The screws that hold it all together can give up the ghost. They might need your time to loosen, close, tighten, close, loosen, close, tighten... get the picture? The door will move in and out on theses long hinges to where you can get them just right without bending hinges. Even if someone backed up with the door open, if the door caught something, it would take it out on something other than the hinge. If you take out the screws, you'll find you can move the door to and fro. Heck- don't even put the screws in. Just get the door on the hinges, close it, move it carefully back and forth between the cab and the door edge to get it just right in the opening, (Use something wooden so you don't screw up that paint job.) then go through the other side of the cab, put the screws in, tighten it down and see what you think- Door problems can become a nightmare if you let them. I took mine off, ground them down to bare metal, primed and painted them... (rattle-rattle)... put them back on their hinges and ... they close so easily it's not even funny. One finger, little effort, "click"- it's locked. Or is that just a GMC? By the way- if the door's hitting the gutter, the strike's not to low- the door is too high. (Too far out at the bottom) let the door in at he bottom (move it on the hinge arm towards the front of the truck) and maybe out (towards the back of the truck) at the upper hinge. Do not have the screws in to do this as the door should be plenty snug on the hinge arms as is. IF THE PIN'S WORN OUT... then you'll have to get new hinges, but these other things should work if they are not. How to check? while the door is open, lift up on the door with screws firmly tightened. If you see the door more / hear it move, "clunk-clunk", "clink-clink" ...you might want to think about new hinges. Make sure ALL SCREWS ARE TIGHT FIRST!
You guys are the best. I don't care what my wife says. Moving the lower hinge brought the door in the required amount. Now with a little more work the rest of it will get there. Thanks>
Oh Crap! I went to bed too early last night and you guys solved lapace's problem. Way to go guys. So much for my idea about suggesting he grow tomatoes in the bed of his truck! BTW, welcome to the group!
AD Body Panel Fittment Actually , the post war boom caught GM quite by surprise and AD series trucks were notably badly put to-gether as far as the jig work was concerned , espcially the passenger side doors didn't fit well and had wind and water leak problems from new , often un-correctable . They just slapped 'em to-gether and shoved 'em out the door to long lines of waiting customers . Getting the door to open and close with those sweet clicks is easy enough but making it line up correctly at the belt line -and- having proper gaps esp. to the windshield pillar is difficult . Many Bodymen remove the outer door skin and work the rood proper until it fits perfectly , then re-attach the skin so the outer edges and belt line match too . Remember : as mentioned before , if there's _any_ play in the hinges , you're flubbing your dub at adjusting it so get those re-bushed 1st. .
Nate is right, following WW11 everyone was desperate for new cars and trucks, we couldn't even buy tires or more than 20 gallons of gas a month for the previous 4 years. When new vehicles became available in 1946 anything sold reguardless of the panel fit or other quality control. The AD's were not the only crudely built trucks. They can be made to match a Rolls in coachwork but it takes much time or cubic money. I think one should accept wind noise and water drips as part of the old truck experience. Here is a picture of a truck that has every gap at exactly a paint stick plus a couple wraps of masking tape ( 0.155") that has had the door shell recontoured, too tight of gaps ground for clearance and the layers rewelded where ground through and the too wide of gaps filled by welding in steel and grinding back to correct width. Doors, side vent, hood, running board filler panel, tailgate, everything fit like a Lexus. For 10 grand my question is why? In this case our customer used the truck as a billboard at his business and wrote it off as advertising expense but most of us don't have that option. I dropped a 54 off at a customers house the other day and it rattled the doors, had hot air coming in around the broken starter bellows, smelled of oil vapor from the road draft tube, and sung a beautiful tune at 55 mph--wonderful.
Another sign I'm blessed.... Of course since I've said how nice my one-finger-gentel-push-gets-the-door-to-click-shut is, watch what happens when I get around to installing the door weatherstripping... It's really nice it shuts that well since the driver's side door glass is split right in half and any serious slamming would have the glass in two pieces and in the bottom of the door.
I tried to send some pictures last night but the file size was to big. I got those doors pretty good though. I also thought I had the doors good befor I put the rubber on. I sent it to the painter, got it home, and put the door bumper, and lower windlace on and then the problems started. I had read that the doors were slaped on at the factory and that I knew that it would be tough even if the door had not been open when someone tried to back the truck up close to a post (or something unmovable). I will have to work on the pictures though. "Herbert" is a very handsom looking 54.
By the way... I might also say "welcome"! As far as posting pictures, mine are always way over the 300 whatevers they give you for thumbnails so i put mine in the gallery- click on photos- follow directions- and then you can post the URL (http://whateverwhateverwhaterver=alotoftyping=pic=228) that shows up for each picture. OR just tell us you posted pics in the member's gallery and we'll swoop down like buzzards to see what you've got. You're bummin' me by saying things were fine until... but- guess what? I'll get it- with help from here if need be. I'll be diddled if I take my door apart and weld/add/remove/grind/etc. Doors and hinges used to get my goat, but I found out they ALL can be adjusted. Even shimmed if need be. My driver side door was left open while the driver backed past a (post?). there's a nice crease in the cab just fore the door. Maybe that's what you have to do to get these things to see it your way! (?)
That is a GREAT looking project you got going! I love the space you have to work on your ride too! 'course I'm ready to hire the B'sD to come up here and build me one of his shops! I have the great wide open to work in. but it'll do.
It is a nice place to work. The problem is space is limited. I suppose Boeing runs out of room in some of their hangers. I built it myself. It has a wood stove for winter and a small window AC unit. So you are working in the street. Didn't your dad ever tell you not to play in the road? We do what we have to with what we have. I do think you need to get the rubber on and then paint. Kind of a test fit. Other wise you will worry yourself to death like I did.
My next one is going to end up with that level of fit and finish. My current one is kinda cool with the natural aging that it has, but sometimes I wish I held out for a better truck.
Hey Old Timers, listen up! Nate, you're 100% correct on your comment about post WWII vehicles! Evan, i loved your comments on the '54. It brings a tear to my eyes to know that there are still folks out there who realize and appreciate the true beauty of America's passion-the automobile. I think my mother summed it up pretty well when we were talking about her S-10 Blazer last October. She said "I don't feel safe in that plastic piece of sh*t. I wish we still had that '54 Belair that your father and I had when you were born. That car had some metal in it!" Give me fat fenders, and an engine that you can actually see the spark plugs any day over the stuff that they put out nowadays! I know i'll get some grief over this from my younger friends, but what the crap! I'm sure that they'll tell me that you can plug in the diagnostic to the engine and tell what's wrong with the engine, etc, etc, etc and for a mere $1000, we can have you up and running in no time, but back then, if you could hold a wrench, you could fix a babbit pounder. Thanks for the trip down memory lane!
I won't give you much grief over this one Ken. As much as I love the new cars, my real passion and the reason I'm even in the car business is those beautiful fat fenders. And you're right now a days if the regular joe tried to fix their car they would create a lot more problems than if they were to just bring it to us in the first place. And usually for a low low price of around a $1000 you can be on your way. My buddies at work and I were talking about the subject of cost of repair the other day. We wrote down every estimate that we gave to a customer and the amount for a week and averaged it. Take in mind I'm on a high end car line, but my average was about $1800 for an estimate. Isn't that rediculous. But in my defense the cost of parts drives that estimate way up. I'm an honest mechanic not a thief. As far as feeling safe I think that they are just about as safe ( not including those two door sports car types ) as they use to be, they just replaced the strenght of the metal with several air bags, (which I don't agree with). I really don't know where I was going with this I just wanted to show that the younger guys don't ALWAYS think that newer is better, just most of the time .
The problem with those plug in diagnostic devices is that if your truck is to old no one has one you can use. I have a 1987 F-150 (sorry) that has been a good truck. It started having problems and I thought "Well I finaly get to try the electronic device." I traveled far and wide trying to get someone with the machine. No luck what so ever. Finaly after much thought I got to the bottom of the problem. Just remeber there is no substitute for comon sense. I will be glad when I get the 54 chev on the road as I will not have to take any plumbing off to get to the plugs. Oh if I had you guys money, or at least the time.
Watch what you say! I hope you put your hands over your trucks ears when you said this! This coming from someone who lovingly called his truck "butt-ugly".
Kevin I agree with ya. While the Volvo's I work with every day are not quite as expensive as your BMW's they cost some bucks to keep going. I remember when I started in the business in '79 out labor rate was $13.00 now we are at $103.75 a flat rate hour. Ouch !! Parts have also gone up a bunch. These deals are one of the main reasons I gotg a hold of a Old 54 so after a long hard day I can go work on something nice & simple.
