Have your door strikers been too worn to tighten enough to get rattles gone?
 

My driver door is just loose enough to rattle on bumps and it's quite annoying. I've loosened the striker and tapped it in as far as it'll go with the hammer and it is still not tight enough. I need about 1/4 inch more and that's about how worn my striker is. Obviously I need to buy new a new striker based on the wear, but am I the only one with strikers wearing too much to be adjusted and causing rattles ?

Mine does it on rough (dirt) roads. I figured it was just the nature of the clamshell door design.

I drove a truck identical to mine and it was quiet as a mouse over bumps

Never saw a striker on one of these trucks that was so worn that it had to be replaced. Much more likely the latch is worn, but I've only seen this on clapped-out and abused commercial trucks. A quarter inch is a huge amount of adjustment.

Got a pic of the striker? Really curious...

That does indeed say 1/4 inch, whoops typo. Supposed to say 1/8th. Anyway I got the door adjusted to my liking, but it would do better with a fresh striker so this 1/8th inch would be easier to adjust.


http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d5...dz1/null-1.jpg

I have the same problem, but my truck has about 190 thousand miles on it.
My strike does not show much wear but my latch seems to be really sloppy.
The wear on yours looks like the strike is out of alignment and is rubbing.

Wow. I think that's about as bad as I've ever seen. lol.

The wear on the top of the striker is due to the door being severely misaligned, either from misaligned hinges or worn hinge pins and bushings. Open the door just a few inches and rock the door up and down from the latch end. If the door rattles up and down, you need to replace the bushings if available or the hinges. Then remove the striker and align the door so the body lines all match and the gaps are consistent.

Next, install a new striker. The striker needs to be adjusted so it ONLY contacts the jaws of the latch. If it hits the body of the latch as it closes you MUST readjust. You can shine a flashlight in the door gap to see how the striker enters the latch. You can also feel this misalignment as the door closes the last inch or so.

If the door still rattles after doing this, the latch is probably worn and should be replaced.

You can skip replacing the hinges if they are worn, but at least realign them so the door closes properly. You may fix the rattle at the latch end, but the hinges may still rattle.

I have tried to realign a door on my 76 F150. Is there a trick to supporting the door and being able to get it aligned at the same time? I have only used friends trying to keep it aligned manually while tightening.

A floor jack seems like an obvious first step, but I still don't know if there are any tricks for getting everything aligned beside pure trial and error.

The door is misaligned just as in this case, riding very hard on the striker.

Thanks!