aligning the doors
Postmaster
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 2,848
Likes: 1
From: Kentucky
After taking over 5 hours to put my two doors back on my 79 and getting the margins right, I found out the hard way how to make it easier.
It takes two people, one to loosen and tighten the door hinge bolts and the other person holding the door. They can "feel" how much you are moving the door, a lot better than the person on their knees wrenching the bolts. Get a floor jack or sling off of a engine hoist to hold the door, either one will be taking the weight off of the person holding the door.
Loosen all of the hinge bolts to where you can move the door , but keep them tight enough so the door will not slide around freely. Put masking tape around all your door openings so you wont chip the paint if the door hits the opening wrong, which it will..
The door hinge bolts on the windshield pillar have the door's up and down adjustments in them. The bolts on the door's hinge have the inward/outward (tilt) movement adjustments in them. Make small movements and adjustments, close the door SLOWLY and step back and check your margins everytime you move the hinges, the margins will show you which way the door needs to move.. When you move the door up vertically, the "tilt" will change , so you need to take the adjustments in sequence. Just be patient and you will finally get the proper "margins" set on your doors, it is not a quickie job for sure. good luck
It takes two people, one to loosen and tighten the door hinge bolts and the other person holding the door. They can "feel" how much you are moving the door, a lot better than the person on their knees wrenching the bolts. Get a floor jack or sling off of a engine hoist to hold the door, either one will be taking the weight off of the person holding the door.
Loosen all of the hinge bolts to where you can move the door , but keep them tight enough so the door will not slide around freely. Put masking tape around all your door openings so you wont chip the paint if the door hits the opening wrong, which it will..
The door hinge bolts on the windshield pillar have the door's up and down adjustments in them. The bolts on the door's hinge have the inward/outward (tilt) movement adjustments in them. Make small movements and adjustments, close the door SLOWLY and step back and check your margins everytime you move the hinges, the margins will show you which way the door needs to move.. When you move the door up vertically, the "tilt" will change , so you need to take the adjustments in sequence. Just be patient and you will finally get the proper "margins" set on your doors, it is not a quickie job for sure. good luck
Last edited by Greg 79 f150; Sep 25, 2004 at 12:21 PM.
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