Just was noticing door alignment on my '02 Superduty crew cab. Passenger side looks fine, but the gap between the driver's door and rear door is considerably smaller (closer) than the others. It was a little misaligned (drooping at the rear), so I made some .040 shims for the bottom hinge and brought it up that way. But the gap still seems too close as compared to other crew cabs or excursions. How difficult is it for a non body guy to shift the rear door straight back to gain the "normal" gap at the front door without using shims........i used them on the front door mainly as an experiment and was not sure if the hinges at the body could be moved in all directions. Sorry for the long post, but I want to explain as best I can. I did not want Ford to get their hands on it and really get the alignment out of whack, or to say "just live with it" or "it is in Ford specs" Any ideas out there?????

 

ceejay i saw your post in the superduty forum,didn't get achance to answer.its not hard to move these doors around,if you have patience.
the hinges move ,plus the doors move on the hinges.
You need to get your front doors set first,being this is a crew cab i take it.take the shims back out and do the fronts first,chk all gaps all around.I usually take the door strikers off so they don't interfere with door closing( can cause alignment problems)make sure you close the door very slowly after adjustments.We don't want any bent sheetmetal.

i use the 1/4 inch to 5/16 rule(gaps) all the way around.

just one Thought prior to attempting suggestion above though,
make sure that the factory tightened all the body/frame mount bolts to proper torque first.This can throw all the gaps and your adjustments way off .These trucks do flex, so make sure your on level ground before doing any of the above suggestions also.


Rich

 

Thanks, Rich. I really appreciate the info! I guess patience is what it will take. I have adjusted single doors before, but never two together. he passenger side seems fine, but the driver's side needs a little help. I appreciate the gap measurements, I was sure there was a "standard" but could not get anybody to answer me. I'm going to measure the gaps all around first, then try to match both sides. If the gaps are within your recommendations, I may just live with a little uneveness (is that a word?) . Thanks for your response, I learned a lot from your post.

When pops and I tackle the '54, I am sure I'll be spending plenty of time here!