Need Help with door installation and line up
 

Hello
I'm Stan, and I need help to reset the doors on my sons truck. I hope this is the right place to start and if not could you please direct me to that spot.
So lets start out with why we took off the doors, My son is 16 and wanted to redo a truck to be able to say he did it and be proud of what he has accomplished, but he got in way over his head and tore it apart to make it easy to work on the floor to patch hole in it. He's done really well up till this point and I'm proud of him. He now needs to put the doors on and reline them up and can't get it right to close the doors and keep them from hitting the fenders. If you have any pointers that would make this easy and get them done I and he would greatly appreciate the help. Thanks in advance.

Stan

door alignment
 

I just did mine on my next project. It was easier to do with fenders off. Paint stir sticks create a perfect gap. If you did not remove or adj the strikes, do not mess with them. I will take a little time but not that difficult.

Hello scooter79 and thanks for the help that's a great idea for spacing never though of that. I have another question then on how to get the door in far enough to line up with the body? We have been messing with this for two days and can't seem to get it to stay after we open the door up to tighten the bolts. We are trying to not remove the fenders seeing how we just put a new drivers side on and boy was that ever a pain to do. If its nothing more then tweaking a little at a time then that's what we'll have to do.

Thank you
Stan

Welcome to FTE. I had to take my doors off to drill holes for speaker wiring. I used my cherry picker with some cardboard and chains around the top of the door to "hang" the door while I lined up the hinges. This freed up my hands. I was able to use the dirt around the hinges as a guide to put them back where they were. No issues with alignment but if your surfaces are clean you're basically starting from scratch. In that case all panel alignment is trial and error.

Hello fmc400
Thanks for the welcome and the help. That's what I thought we would have to do but wanted to see if there was a trick that would help. Your cherry picker is a good idea and I thought of something better and that's a jib crane. I used to sell parts from salvage motorcycles and had one built to lift them and motors around the garage. I'll have to post pics when I get time and pics of my sons truck.

Thanks for all the help
Stan

A little late to say he should of scribed marked the hinge position BEFORE HE REMOVED THEM....yes to late now. FYI works for the hood too.

Do not loosen the hinge of the door, you will be chasing your tail even harder. Like it was said, is there any prior position dirt marks to use? Set the height first with paint sticks or get some house door frame wooded shim pack and use pieces under the bottom of the door and use the body lines to set it.

Support the door as much as possible when opened, roller floor jack and 2 ft long 2x4 with a groove cut in it length wise for the door, put the door on, tighten hdwr as much as possible, but still be able to work the door around.

Once you get the height set with the body lines right, get in there any way possible to scribe mark/ sharpie the top and bottom hinge position. That way when you open it and it slips you have a mark to go back to.

Put some masking tape on the door and fender edge to prevent damage. Open the door only enough to get a scribe in there.

It is not a fast process, if you get frustrated take a soda break, and talk future truck plans. Stop by here more often before tasks are started.

Hang in there.

I haven't done any doors on mine yet, but here is how I have done my other parts. Snug things down just a little, enough it will sorta stay but loose that you can use a little prying to move. I would probably do the front to back first and up and down first, then do the in and out. I would set the door to the back as far as I could, then if it needs to come forward litely pry it forward. if you get this lined up decent, then tighten down and do the in and out. same way. good luck, hope this is understandable. Makes sense in my head.

Hi Stan,
Welcome to the site.... you'll find lots of ideas and help here.
The ideas in the above posts for supporting the door are key to an easy install. I use a tool that fits on my floor jack. I don't remember where I got it. I work alone so it makes hanging doors possible for me.
Keep at it and good luck on your project.

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...psaba9643f.jpg

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ps7472c5ed.jpg

Hi everyone
Just want to say thanks for all the help. We did get the door set and lined up the paint sticks helped a lot to set the door in place, and we have long extensions to reach in be hind the fender to tighten it when the door was closed. Hey fuzzybob that's a nice door jack setup wish we had that for him to use he would have done the job with out me just so he could say he didn't need any help. He's very independent and loves to be able to say he did it. The truck is now out for inspection today, hope it passes so he can use it for a daily driver and stop pesting to drive it illegally. Hey I just looked back and saw that I didn't tell everyone the truck is a 1978 F-150 custom 4 speed 4 x 4 and we are the second owner, how cool is that.

Congrats to you both on getting the door aligned. Sounds like a good kid with a nice truck. You are new so I won't crack on ya, but you need to post some pics, its the unwritten rule. lol

Make sure to stop by the tips & tricks thread for more great info.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ease-read.html

Also there is a "Next Generation" forum for the 15 to 25 age group of Ford truck owners, that might be cool for him to ck out?

The Next Generation - Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums

Also make sure and join your state FTE chapter for maybe some local help also.

Pennsylvania Chapter - Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums

And welcome to FTE.

I'm diggin' that step. How surefooted do you have to be to use that?

I had the same jack setup for my doors and it works pretty good.

Hey jkinhyd, that's a good question. I'll be 70 in a couple months and I'm sure I'm not as surefooted as I once was but I haven't had any problems using the tool.
I will say that it takes a lot longer to do most anything than it use to!!!

Fuzzy, i was referring to the step on your truck. Its clean and simple, very nice.

Thanks 77&79F250 he is a good kid and has worked on all kinds of things from the age of 3 and its never stopped. He is in tech for diesel mechanics and is going to go to a collage to further his education and walk away with a degree in diesel mechanics.
I think he's on the right path and it keeps him out of trouble and away from the drug seen, and to me that's everything in my book.
Well we just got the bad new on the inspection and it turns out that he needs to do more wielding on the cab. We didn't notice how bad the cab corners were and now we need to put in new. The exhaust needs some work also along with fender wells need plastic just to get it to pass. All in all it not as bad as it could have been and we should have it done by the end of the weekend if all goes well.

I sure am glad I live in a state with no inspections. I would probably punch someone if they wouldn't let me drive my truck because of rusty cab corners. I understand emissions and road worthiness but we aren't talking about the engine being about to fall off, it's cosmetics.


Sorry.

Well 4x4slik I have to agree that its bull but it is what we need to do so for now we decided to just through some fiber glass on to get it to pass. I'll post pics as soon as I get them from the kids phone he taken them from day one till now so it should be a nice set to show off his talent.

Rusty cab corners made it fail, what BS. I would ask that guy how he is going to re-insp with his eyes swollen shut...lol

Hope they were not hoping to get you to get them to do the work and make the shop some $.

What if the truck was 73? and did not have any plastic inner fenderwell in the first place? At least I do not think they did? Who knows still a BS call on their part IMO.

"Hang Ford Tough"

I agree with you 77&79F250 but that's what he said to fix and its the rear cab corners, they are open into the cab from underneath and exhaust can get in through them, easy to fix so no big deal. The guy that's doing the inspection is his friends father and is only charging for the inspection. He being treated well and those are the requirements for a PA inspection.

Just found this and I'm in a similar position. I took the door off, and had to remove the hinges from the body and door to replace the bushings and treat some rust issues (as a result former hinge marks are gone). POR on the hinges, new seal sealer, looking much better. Now I'm not sure how to install the door and hinge. I don't want to remove the fender. I planned to install the hinge to the body, then attach the door, but then I'm not sure how to adjust the darn thing if I do it in that order.

Can you explain how to tightened the hinges to the body with the door attached? Should I bolt the hinges to the door, then tack them to the body, unbolt the door, snug then to the body, and reattach the door?

Someone linked this thread to one I had posted on the 48-56 forum so I am returning the favor. Here is a tool that holds the door securely and does not require a floor jack. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...oor-dolly.html
It's not cheap, $450, but I am sure that an enterprising truck enthusiast could build something modeled after this one for less $$$.

On an added note, I have used paint stirrers to help hold gaps in the door but I have also found that rubber squeegees work great too. I trim them to fit the spot I need to hold a gap.