Hey guys, I have a '60 F100 that I have torn down, repainted and am now installing the doors/ fenders. Of all that I have done to this truck, this is the most frustrating part. No joke. At one time, I had doors and fenders installed but couldnt get the Cab, Door, and Fender to jive. so its all back apart now and Im doing the door(s) first and the fenders will folow.

I have installed a Dennis Carpenter door seal on the passenger-side door thus far and so far no matter what I do (adjustment-wise) the door wont fit. It seems the rubber is too "fat" on the hinge side making the door start to bind when the door is about 4-5 inches from latching even with the door adjusted all the way out (btw, if I push hard I can get it to click once and hold). This seal is just too stout... wont crush. I called DCarp and the guy there told me I needed to just 'tape' the seal on the door first and whittle away at the back of the seal until it 'fits right'. When I spent $100 getting the seal and adhesive and all I heard was about how it would "fit right in there". I'll tell ya, that's a big negatory!

I'd like to hear from any of you that have actually installed a door seal that didnt work right at first. What did you do to git er done?

When I had the door on the last time (without the rubber) It was hard enough, and now, well I just cant see this rubber working at all.

Have any of you used the Dennis C. Rubber? Who else makes a seal? I saw from one member that PepBoys carries some, but what about repro? Any experience or ideas or other help is apreciated.

Thanks,

'nilla 60

 

I don't think you will find an OEM style of rubber door seal that will fit without trimming it. It is a real PITA. I had to trim the OEM style for my 56 and I even purchased the "thinner" ones offered for that model. They came from MidFifty. It is very difficult to trim them evenly. On the truck I am now working on (another 56) I plan to use an aftermarket hollow seal something like the one you referenced from Pepboys. Sofseal and Steele Rubber make some various designs that might work. All the later model seals seem to be of the hollow type rather than solid and should "crush" and let the door shut. Good luck.

 

The pep boys seal is a hollow seal and much softer than the repro ones. Try it you'll like it!

 

I had the same problem as you with the Dennis Carpenter seals. it wasn't actually the seals but the door adjustment that was giving me fits.

i had to make spacers to fit between the door and hinge to bring the front of the door out far enough. I also had to swap the hinges around (even though they are all suppose to be the same top to bottom) to get it close.

there is a sweet spot in the adjustment that makes everything align and fit nicely and it is a pain to get to that point. 1/4" in either directionand the door hits somewhere too early making it not close properly.

it takes a lot of fiddling with adjustments to get it to fit just right and make all the body lines line up correctly. belive me it is a lot easier with two people to get it right.

do the door first and get the gaps just right and then mount the fenders. it seems a lot easier that way.

rgds
Mike

 

If i remeber corectly on my 54 when we painted it and put on new seals we bungied the doors shut. Well they did not latch but the bungies kept pressure on it till they kind of would lossen up. I dont know if they did anything else to them or not. Good luck with it and post some pictures in the gallery.

 

It seems to me that I remember seeing a wide variety of shapes and styles of weatherstipping in the JC Whitney catalog. Maybe you can find something with a smaller profile there.

Good luck
Bobby

 

The seal problem I had was that the doors fit so bad there was a huge gap that the weatherstrip wouldn't fill at the rear upper corner. The whistling on the freeway was deafening! I used the Pep Boys seal stuff and it filled it well. It is also pliable enough to squeeze way down for small clearances.

The nicest part is that it is a peel and stick type, instead of requiring that nasty adhesive. Here's a pic of it:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gal...=90700&width=0

Good luck.

 

We've seen this topic a few times. I think Randy needs some kickbacks from PepBoys on the number of times he's recommended their product. LOL... Anyways, the OEM stuff doesn't work. I've been working on this for over a year now. Tried maybe 3 or 4 brands and nothing worked. So for the longest, I took it all off and drove without any seal. I went to the Long Beach Swap Meet (automotive) yesterday and found this guy who sells weatherstrip. It is the "D" shape rubber which is collapsible. It's about .5" high. To make a long story short, this stuff worked excellent on my truck. Easy to put on and the door shut just flush and tight without adjustment. You have to look around. I suggest putting some gum or playdoe in between the door and jam, close the door, peel the playdoe off and measure the distance. The whole weatherstripping for both sides ran me $12. I'm happy!

 

Do you have any contact info for the guy?

 

AX- I didn't get info, but he's there on a monthly basis. Next show is January 28. I'll get the info then.

 

Thanks Ed !

 

AX,
I checked the JC WHitney website, did a search for "weatherstripping" They show the "D" profile weatherstrip

Heck, I would bet you could pick it up at Pepboys or one of the other local parts houses also

Bobby

 

I had trouble with the door weather striping also. I just couldn't get the doors to shut compleatly. I forced the doors shut and left it a day or two. The weather striping seemed to smush and the doors worked better. It stayed a little tight for a while but works good now. No wind noise at all, it is nice. Make sure that your paint is good and dry some did peel off when I opened the door.
Peace,

 

Maybe we got lucky, but the DC seals worked great on our 60. Here is what we did.

We installed the doors first with no seal. I wanted the top, bottom and rear gaps just right. It didn't work the first time because we had too much play in our hinges. So off they came and then after rebuilding the hinges, it still took a couple hours per door to get them just right.

Then we installed the fenders (no seals on) and we put put the gravel pan and grill on. It takes some time to get the door and cab gaps just right. Make sure the radiator support is loose so you can move it some.

Once we were happy with the gaps, we removed the fenders, installed the DC fender seals and re-installed them. Then we installed the DC door seals without removing the doors. This makes it harder and requires at least 2 people, but IMO it is easier than trying to get the door back in the exact same spot.

We made a pretty big mess with the glue, but since we have a clear coat, the glue was an easy clean up with acetone.

The driver side seal worked with no trimming, it is tight for a few days, but it forms to the door. The passenger side we did have to trim a little away on the curve about midway up the front of the door. This is in the area where it is "formed". I just trimmed a little with a razor blade, a little at a time until the door shut like the driver side.

Now you had to push the door close for several days before the seals fully formed, it may even have been a week or 2, but now they close very smoothly and seal very well.

Hope this helps.

 

Ditto what Waston said. Doors have to be set correct before installing door rubbers. I too did mine on the truck and forced the doors closed on 2 56's and after a few days they close nicely. I never trimmed any of the rubber. All gaps are nice probably nicer than when new.

Kevin Bigwin