I installed some new weatherstrip on my passenger door this weekend. I have done the drivers door with the same weatherstrip and all I had to to was adjust the striker out a bit and it closes fine. The passenger is a different story. For the life of me I can't get the darn door to shut unless I adjust the striker all the way out and then it barely closes with a lot of force and the door sticks out past the cab-mostly at the bottom of the door. Any ideas? The striker is in perfect shape.

 

Looks like the hinge point may need a bit of adjustment. Not too sure, but that looks like the next likely move.

 

I have not adjusted doors before. Can you tell me how to begin?

 

Have you taken a heat gun to the weather stripping yet to get it soft and pliable? It's been my experience that it takes the WS a while to 'break in'.

 

No, but I taped it down to compress it and it made little difference. The other door gave me no problems.

 

When I put new rubbers on my doors it took a while for them to break in like mentioned earlier on this post. Did you take the doors off when you replaced the rubber? If not, then I would think they might just need breaking in.

 

After installing new door seals on my 65 'Stang, I used a cargo strap and applied tension from door to door (slowly!) over a few days to gently persuade the seals to give and conform.

 

To adjust the door hinge place a floor hjack to support it while you make the adjustments

You may have to adjust it a few times to compress the WS in stages to finally acheive the proper closure

 

If you door shut fine before do not adjust your hindges. Your weatherstrip will break in, mine took several months and that was with NOS Ford w/s. Just play around with your striker a bit.

 

Thanks. After moving the striker around I can not get the door to shut beyond the first click-no matter how hard I shut it-doesn't feel like the rubber is stopping it. Is the striker suppose to have washers on the inside like this?

 

Yes that's normal. It will take some trial and error so I know it's hard but be patient. I litterly had to slam my doors for months and that was last year. I even took a heat gun to them but be careful you don't get to close, you can discolor your paint or start to melt the w/s. I would personally put the striker back in the original spot and even though the doors will still be out abit leave them there for awhile. I've been through this as well as other members so we know how fustrating it is.

 

Thanks for the words of encouragement. I know the striker was moved inward by someone before in order to cope with the collapsed/rotted weatherstrip as the door shut easily, yet set inside the cab frame too far.

At some point I will need to align the doors as it looks like the door and front fender rub a small bit on the lower front section when the door is opened.

 

we just put new weatherstripping in my daughter's 65 mustang and yeah it made it really tough to close the doors. As much as I hate even mentioning the word "silicone" as I'm a body/paint guy...

I was told to use silicone on the rubber (weatherstripping) well I didn't have any nor did I want any silicone spray around but we had some armor all at home so we used that.

It helped a lot. I sprayed it on a cloth then wiped it on the weatherstripping. now a couple months later the weatherstripping seems to be broken in and the doors close really nice.

 

I sprayed a bit of 303 protectant on today but I couldn't get it past the fist click.

 

I suppose it's possible you have a vertical alingment issue with the striker.

You could try to eyeball it as you are closing the door, look for the correct interface between the striker & the "ramp" into the latching mech on the door itself.

Striker might have to go up or down?