I have a 88 f 150 4x4 short bed xlt lariot. My doors rattle as if not closed all the way. It happens while I drive as I hit bumps. The doors are lined up to the body great. there even with the body of the cab, but You can push them in towards the cab about 1/4 in. Can I cure this with new weather seals or is it more serious.
This sight is too friggen cool
Hope you veterans can help
USMC

 

I have the same problem. I have oiled//lubed the crap out of the latches too. It does nothing. I either need new latches or weatherseal. maybe someone can help us out.

 

The "Striker" Metal Post on the Door Jamb is supposed to have a plastic sleeve over the Post. The Sleeve gets brittle over the Years and breaks when the Latch makes contact with the Striker. The door will rattle like crazy without the Sleeve, good news is, it's an easy fix with a new striker from Ford or the "Help Line" at your Local Parts Store.

 

It could also be the door pin roller too my pass side one broke in half and the door rattles but i do 2nd the striker sleeve.

Kyle

 

Im gonna try that. Never even though of that I dont think the plastic is on either door. I would have never thought of that in a thousand years. Thanks a ton guys. The help is great as always. It seems the more I look I find more to fix and I must admit I love making this truck better.

 

If the sleeves don't do it completely, the STRIKER PIN itself is adjustable, in/out and up/down. You unscrew it with a big allen wrench or torx (can't remember) a turn or so, just loose enough to move it. Do NOT unscrew it more than you have to, like a turn or less, to slide it toward the center of the truck a little. If you loosen it too much, I think you can loose the nut on the inside of the door jamb--ungood.

But draw a circle around it first, so you know where you've been.

If you can get an even pressure on a dollar bill all the way around the door, where it pulls out with a firm tug, you're in the ballpark. If still have rattling or wind noise, suck 'em in a little further.

 

new door seals are about $100 at lmc and take about 15 minutes per side. you only need to unscrew a few trim pices to get em in.

xlts have an additional seal on the door itself to cut out wind noise

 

quaddriver,

No kidding? Where is the extra seal--alongside the existing one, or somewhere else? Is it worth adding them? LOL

BigSix

 

I had the same problem with the doors on my 93 F150. I installed new striker bolts with new sleeves about 6 months ago. Now the sleeves are torn up again. How do I adjust the striker bolt so this doesn't happen again?

JLM

 

fix the real problem, the hinges/pins.

 

Just went through this sleeve replacement thing. Ford dealer part is like $20. Parts store is $5. My labor is free, Ford dealer was free also. The service writer adjusted it for me as I am door-adjustment-challenged...LOL!

I second the marking the striker pin mount position, without it you will be lost for 1/2 and hour or more trying to get it right.

 

How do I change those strikers? It looked like they fasten inside the body panel. I dont mind labor but the more variables I can rule out the better.
Thanks everyone

 

Hi, Dirt Nappa.
Welcome to FTE. I understand your problem. The pin is a real PITA when it comes to door rattles, and all the solutions here are the real deal. (I used to wrap duct tape around mine, for a quickie-fix,) What I'm getting to here, is, how are your Door latches? You can have all the good seals/pin line ups, but if your door latches are worn, they will have play.

You say the lines are good, so I don't think hinge/pins. (Unless, the door jumps up when ya close it, or drops when it opens.)

Hope I helped a fellow Veteran.

 

My latches are great. Im going to use your idea and see if a bit of tape will quiet them. Then if that is it Ill know and can mark and install new strickers. If it dosent stop the clatter Ill have to go new and adjust arrg. Dop those strikers have a nut on the back I need to account for or is it a tapped hole ?
Thank you for your service
Michael

 

DirtNappa,

If the metal of the striker posts is okay, you don't have to change them. Just adjust them, IF they're out of adjustment. As Quicklook says, the problems could be worn hinges/hingepins. HOWEVER, I've seen vehicles with misadjusted doors from the factory. Plus, if your door seals are simply dried out and shrunken slightly, but the hinges and pins are fine, then the posts simply need to come in slightly, to take up the slack, unless you want to replace the door seals.

Note to Quicklook--the hinges and pins could very well be bad, like you say but, as explained above, they might not be bad. If the door gaps are all still right and the door is not dropping, upon opening, then the hinges and pins are not worn (assuming someone hasn't already tried to compensate for worn hinges by adjusting either the hinges or the stiker posts).

In fact, I did this for my buddy on his '88 "effa-TWO-FIFTY", because, at only 40,000 miles, the doors rattled badly, when he became the second owner. The door gaps were fine, the hinges and pins were NOT worn, and yet the doors rattled badly. Either the door seals shrunk, or the stiker posts had been set too far out to begin with, but all they needed was about 3/16" inward adjustment, to quiet them. The hinges and pins were fine then, and still are, to this day.

Sometimes, the quickest shot (or "Quicklook"? LOL) is not always the one that does the trick, you know?

DirtNappa,

Let's not confuse the terms--not sure if that is what's happening, but I'm starting to get cornfused, so bear with me:

The "posts" or "pins" are the same thing as the "strikers"--we're just using them interchangably.

The "sleeves" are a plastic sheath that goes OVER the "striker posts."

The "latches" close over the stiker post-and-sleeve-combos.

The hinges are obviously at the front of the doors, and have the "hinge pins" running down through them.

The strikers have some kind of a nut on the back sides which WILL tighten back up, IF you only loosen them a turn or so. Just loosen it enough to get the striker to slide, as I explained above, and then move the striker IN a 1/8" or whatever you need to stop the rattle. If your door gaps are fine, try to make sure you do NOT drop or raise the striker post any.

And you will still need the plastic sleeves, if your truck had them originally, so don't bother moving the posts until you get the sleeves on.

Update: Stumped....
I just looked at the plastic sleeves on the striker posts on my '88 and '97. Neither appear to be cut in a spiral, for an easy "slip over" installation, so I do not know how one changes them, without completely unscrewing the posts. Which I would NOT do, until someone here (Quicklook, perhaps?) can explain how to do that without losing the nut behind the door jamb.