secret door alignment trick??
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Joined: Nov 2008
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From: Santa Monica, CA
Only the bottom presses in. The rest has to be glued on. I just did mine yesterday. I took the doors off to do it so I would have better access for cleaning off the old adhesive and gluing on the new rubber. I used the black 3M weatherstrip adhesive and door seals from Dennis Carpenter. Turned out pretty good and made a big difference in the cab.
Elder User
Joined: Mar 2009
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Only the bottom presses in. The rest has to be glued on. I just did mine yesterday. I took the doors off to do it so I would have better access for cleaning off the old adhesive and gluing on the new rubber. I used the black 3M weatherstrip adhesive and door seals from Dennis Carpenter. Turned out pretty good and made a big difference in the cab.
Thanks for the info. Did you have to adjust the striker plate at all after you put the new seals on? Did it effect your alignment on the doors or was it still fairly close to the same before you took the doors off? I have replaced door seals on other vehicles I have done and found that the cab becomes so sealed that when my door windows are up, its hard to shut the doors because of the air seal in the cab. Did you notice that when you shut your doors now?
JRB65
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Joined: Nov 2008
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From: Santa Monica, CA
37 Ford guy,
Thanks for the info. Did you have to adjust the striker plate at all after you put the new seals on? Did it effect your alignment on the doors or was it still fairly close to the same before you took the doors off? I have replaced door seals on other vehicles I have done and found that the cab becomes so sealed that when my door windows are up, its hard to shut the doors because of the air seal in the cab. Did you notice that when you shut your doors now?
JRB65
Thanks for the info. Did you have to adjust the striker plate at all after you put the new seals on? Did it effect your alignment on the doors or was it still fairly close to the same before you took the doors off? I have replaced door seals on other vehicles I have done and found that the cab becomes so sealed that when my door windows are up, its hard to shut the doors because of the air seal in the cab. Did you notice that when you shut your doors now?
JRB65
Most of the threads I've read on this have recommended the Dennis Carpenter seals over the other repops out there. When gluing them on be careful not to stretch the rubber as you stick it down as there are sections at the curved latch area & on the hinge side that are molded specifically for those areas. If you've stretched the rubber, those areas won't fit properly.
I still have a slight wind whistle on the passenger door at highway speeds which is a little annoying but it may be a wing vent gasket. I haven't had a chance to check it out more thoroughly. Overall the new seals have really made the truck feel tighter with fewer rattles and I like that.
Hope this helps some.
Senior User
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 389
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From: Glendale, AZ
When you get your doors aligned, drill 2 1/8" holes in the hinges so that you can realign them after painting. Here is a pic of how I did mine.
I also drilled 2 holes in the hinge inside the door to align it. You can see the other holes in the flat part.
When we got the doors lined up properly, they still did not fit tight at the top. My friend that is helping me with the body work is a retired bodyman. He justed grabbed ahold of the top window frame and put all his weight into it to twist the top of the door over to make it line up right. It worked well.
I hope that this helps.
Kevin
I also drilled 2 holes in the hinge inside the door to align it. You can see the other holes in the flat part.
When we got the doors lined up properly, they still did not fit tight at the top. My friend that is helping me with the body work is a retired bodyman. He justed grabbed ahold of the top window frame and put all his weight into it to twist the top of the door over to make it line up right. It worked well.
I hope that this helps.
Kevin
Elder User
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 520
Likes: 1
When you get your doors aligned, drill 2 1/8" holes in the hinges so that you can realign them after painting. Here is a pic of how I did mine.
I also drilled 2 holes in the hinge inside the door to align it. You can see the other holes in the flat part.
When we got the doors lined up properly, they still did not fit tight at the top. My friend that is helping me with the body work is a retired bodyman. He justed grabbed ahold of the top window frame and put all his weight into it to twist the top of the door over to make it line up right. It worked well.
I hope that this helps.
Kevin
I also drilled 2 holes in the hinge inside the door to align it. You can see the other holes in the flat part.
When we got the doors lined up properly, they still did not fit tight at the top. My friend that is helping me with the body work is a retired bodyman. He justed grabbed ahold of the top window frame and put all his weight into it to twist the top of the door over to make it line up right. It worked well.
I hope that this helps.
Kevin
While I think this is a great Idea, I bet the metal Purist are going crazy at the thought of you drilling holes in your truck. I am more about getting the job done and making it functional so when you want to pull the door off you dont have to spend 20+ hours trying to line it up the next time. Great Idea.
JRB65
Elder User
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 520
Likes: 1
I put the doors back on in the same place they were and they work pretty well. I didn't have to adjust the striker plates. Yes, the cab is more air tight so they are a little bit harder to shut but that lessens as the seals get seated in place. I must prefer that to the hurricane that was blowing through the cab before...LOL!
Most of the threads I've read on this have recommended the Dennis Carpenter seals over the other repops out there. When gluing them on be careful not to stretch the rubber as you stick it down as there are sections at the curved latch area & on the hinge side that are molded specifically for those areas. If you've stretched the rubber, those areas won't fit properly.
I still have a slight wind whistle on the passenger door at highway speeds which is a little annoying but it may be a wing vent gasket. I haven't had a chance to check it out more thoroughly. Overall the new seals have really made the truck feel tighter with fewer rattles and I like that.
Hope this helps some.
Most of the threads I've read on this have recommended the Dennis Carpenter seals over the other repops out there. When gluing them on be careful not to stretch the rubber as you stick it down as there are sections at the curved latch area & on the hinge side that are molded specifically for those areas. If you've stretched the rubber, those areas won't fit properly.
I still have a slight wind whistle on the passenger door at highway speeds which is a little annoying but it may be a wing vent gasket. I haven't had a chance to check it out more thoroughly. Overall the new seals have really made the truck feel tighter with fewer rattles and I like that.
Hope this helps some.
Thanks again for all the info. I appreciate people who help others and keep them from having to go through lessons learned already. I call it not reinventing the wheel. Its been so blasted hot here lately that I haven't been driving my truck with the windows up. The other day I took the truck out to blow out the vents one more time and I had my Son close his window and I did also. I know about the wistling thing. Im sure a new pair of door rubbers will take care of that. I need to pick up a new set of wing windows. The metal that holds the glass is bent and fairly coroded. I think when I do that I am going to take the doors completly off and rebuild the doors and install all new Anti Rattlers and glass channel felts. Everytime I go out and look at the truck I find 5 more things I need to do and my wallet is saying do 1. I guess thats how restoring trucks goes.
JRB65
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