Okay so a few weeks ago I noticed my drivers door would rattle while driving like it was not latching tight. I took a look and the plastic bushing that is on the lock/latch of the cab was all but gone. Picked up new post and bushing at parts store and put it on. It made the door close and latch a little tighter.

Problem, I still notice the door does not close tightly as my passenger door does. Is there anyway to adjust this? Do I need a new door latch mechanism on the door itself?

 

The post that you replaced is the adjustment point to tighten or loosen the door fit at the latch. The piece the post screws into will slide around for adjustment. It may be stuck and need a little penetrating oil or persuade it with a hammer.

 

Okay thanks! I thought that was the place to adjust but it didn't seem like there was any adjustment on it when I installed the new one. I will play with it and give a little persuasion if need be.

 

The latch mechanism should be fine. Your problem likely lies in one of three areas.

One possibility could be that the post just needs to be adjusted tighter. You can loosen the post up and it can be slid up/down and left/right to adjust how the door latches. Getting that just right can take some time.

The second possibility is that the hinge pins may be badly worn and are allowing the door to sag at the hinge, which can create more space than normal on the leading edge (hinge side) of the door. If the door isn't sealing in the front, I would be willing to wager that this is part of the issue, especially since this is the driver side door and it sees a lot more use than the passenger side. If the door seems to be tight in the front, you can't see light through the seals when it is closed and it still rattles, I think it's likely that the latch pin adjustment is still your issue.

The third possibility is that it may be the door seals themselves that are failing you. If the door rattles, this isn't generally the issue, but if wind/road noise is what you're experiencing then the door seals may be getting old and tired. Your options there are to either replace the seals with new ones or to do the "door seal mod" which involves removing them and installing a piece of rubber surgical tubing or caulking backer rod inside the old seal to reinforce it.

One last thought, and I just dealt with this on my truck, is that it's possible that the rattle you're hearing is not the door so much as it is the inside door panel. In my case the cause is twofold. One issue is that the 3 plastic pins (some people call them pine tree pins) along the latch side of the panel were completely shot and they weren't holding the panel in place. Every time I would hit a bump in the road that panel would flap around and rattle. These pins can be bought at just about any parts store and they're a cheap and relatively easy fix. I think I paid $5 for a box of 15 of them at Autozone and while they were a little tough to get to snap into the holder on the inside of the panel, they really grabbed tight when I popped the panel back onto the door. My other issue is with the panel itself. Along the top edge of the panel there is a lip about 3/4" wide that is supposed to hang over the inside of the window opening so the panel kind of just hangs there on that lip. On my panel the inside window seal is broken loose from the plastic door panel and that lip is all busted to pieces. That being the case, the corner of the door panel (up by the lock pin) doesn't really hold tight to the door anymore. This seems to be a pretty common issue with these door panels as well. The plastic gets old and brittle and it breaks easily (this happens to the owners of these trucks too!) and it lets that corner rattle. In the past, I have just ran a screw through that corner of the panel and into the steel, but on this truck I may actually try to repair the panel itself since it is badly broken that the inside window seal doesn't stay in place.

I hope that help. Sorry it's kind of a novel...

Edit: It looks like Brian has clued you in to the most likely cause of your issue while I was composing my novel.

 

Door hinge pin replacement see pix in Red Truck folder Misc sub folder. I did not replace the bushing just the pins, I do need to do pin bushings and the ideal way is to support the door from above. Thinking (some have suggested) they hung the door off overhead support in garage, even a tree would work using a ratchet strap. Kinda shade tree... ahem but thats me. By suspending the door (rather then a floor jack on it's own) you would have better control and not have to balance it as well you would leave the door wiring harness in tact.

jrc

 

I had the same issue. After replacing the bushings and pins I still had issues closing the door easily. It still had some sag to it and play in the hinges. After a better inspection the top hinge was badly worn due to being left with without bushings for what I assume was years. New to hinge cured all that.