Hi. 1965 F-100 here. I need some expert help, I've searched the forum but there isn't anything similar to this.
I’m having a problem with my driver’s side door, the lower latch side of the door is standing proud by about one inch or so. I decided to install a new door seal thinking that I would be able to fix the problem when I put the door back on. Now I still have the issue (although it hasn’t gotten worse with the install of the door seal – just more frustrating).

Front:

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<O>Back:</O>
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Top: Which is acceptable, but could go in another 1/8 inch or so:

I have the door located squarely in the opening, and the front of the door is fine, but I’m looking for a way to draw the bottom rear of the door in. If I lean on the door it does come in enough for the bottom of the door to seal somewhat, but I have the latch located as far in as possible, so I can’t use the latch at this time to draw the door in harder.


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I’m thinking two things. Either open up the square holes in the body behind the door latch to allow the latch to be located even more inward…or would it make sense to try and bend the lower hinge in a little.
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I’m not looking for a perfect fit, but I do want to get that lower door aligned.
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Does anyone have any advice or recommendations? Thank you in advance.
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Regards, Joe

 

I have never run into a door that was that tweaked without obvious impact marks. Before you took the door off how was the fit ? Did you mark the hinge postitions and are the marks all lined up ? The way the fit is at the front seems pretty good but you might end up having to sacrifice some of the overall fitment to make that door close more at the bottom. Have you looked at your cab mounts ? If the front left cab mount is lower it will tweak the cab after time causing a bit of twist.

 

Thanks for your reply. The door has been like this since I got the truck. The doorjamb hinges, door mounts and striker plate were marked by a previous owner and I put everything back where it was.

I also have moved the hinges around a lot and I run into a problem with clearance between the cowl and the door, or interference with the striker, which limits me. I looked inside the door and there is no evidence of repair or serious damage.

I'll check the cab mounts. Would I just loosen the front left one up and see what happens?

 

That would be a good place to start if you feel its lower in the left corner. Loosen it up and lift it slightly, not too much or your going to be effecting the whole front clip and see if does anything for your door alignment. Take a good look at the cab mount/floor so you can see if there is any signs of settling as well. When you move the door around are you adjusting the hinges at the post only or the post and the ones in the door as well ?The striker has some adjustment in it as well, if you knew that no insult was intended. Is there any evidence that the door post was repaired ?

 

The post looks OK to me. No evidence of damage. Yes, I am fiddling woth both the post and the door side of the hinge. Any please don't worry about insulting me, I am happy that your are trying to help! Thank you!

 

Looking at the bottom hinge it looks like it's pushed to the outside and are you the one who sprayed the primer on the lower part of the post? If there was some welding done there the heat could have drawn it out of line. Anyway another thought I had is there something underneath the door thats pushing it out of line, but then you would have noticed it when you put the weatherstrip on DUH so never mind. I wonder if one of the hinges has ever been tweaked by being twisted/bent by a wind gust and is just making proper adjustment difficult. If you don't get any good solutions here I guess the next choice is parade the truck to a couple of body shops and pick their brains for so ideas.

 

I had a somewhat the same issue, not as bad but enough that it took two day's of adjusting on it to get it right!, what worked for me was to loosen all the bolts on top and bottom hinges and stirker plate'' just enough so I could very carefully ''close the door
and push in and pull out where I needed too, get it as close as you can, then tighten
everything back up! if that don't work, try putting a 2x4 between the door and front jam
where the hinges are and close real easy, then give it a slight push, try a little at a time
untill it closes the gap!..old body man trick..Good luck!
PS, new door seals will take awhile to seat, suggest closing the door and leaving it closed for a few days, even if you have to get in from the other side...

 

Thanks for all your suggestions. I did try some of them, and also did more reading on this site.

I believe my problem was that the striker was too far in. After reading some other posts, and replacing those crappy #3 Phillips screws with some modern allen head screws (which allowed me to make darn sure the striker isn't moving once I tighten it), I moved the striker completely out, and when I slammed the door, the second click of the striker drew the door almost all the way in.

Considering it was 3 above zero here today, I'm expecting that the warmer weather softening up the seals, plus some further adjustment will get me to perfection by summer.

Thanks for your help. I'm learning a lot on this site.

Joe

 

Glad you got her lined up! they can be a real pain in the butt sometimes!, yea, that'a pretty cold for the seals to settle in,..buurrrr...