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Better door seals

casm

casm

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Oklahoma
Something I've been wondering about since being flooded out: has anyone done any work on improving the stock door seals? I'm thinking about how one might go about doing a double-seal arrangement, but figured I'd ask first.

(It's gonna be another DD, so I'd like to keep it as unswamplike as possible inside. If it were just a trail rig, I'd say 'screw it' and just tear out the carpets and Herculiner the whole inside.)
 
Well you could still do the Hurculiner. It would prevent rust and deaden sound which are good things on a DD. I'm planning on doing it to mine eventually.

But I was also wondering how to improve them. Especially the front doors need it. They won't hold out any water and in storms where the rain or snow is going sideways i've had it work its way into the inside.
 
What year XJ do you have? I've found the seals on my '88 to work pretty well, but the driver's door on the '88 MJ is a bit tweaked and it doesn't seal tight at the top. The newer body style XJs use some different/additional door seals, and they can be retrofitted to the older ones. If you have an older one, take a look at that possibility.
 
nhrocker said:
Well you could still do the Hurculiner. It would prevent rust and deaden sound which are good things on a DD. I'm planning on doing it to mine eventually.
Click to expand...
not to steal this thread but i didnt think hurculiner or anything of that sort made it quieter, i always thought it had the opposite effect. I dont know though.
 
Well mine is a 95, and according to his profile, casm's is an 01.

In mine it was the drivers door that gets it the worst. In one snowstorm a couple weeks ago, I came out after work to find a small pile of snow in my drivers seat. The wind had blown it right in through the top of the door...

I meant that it would deaden the sound if you did it and then put the carpet back in. If you leave it out then it probably will be louder. I've only done one small patch under the carpet after I replaced part of the floor, and it helped a little.
 
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scottsxj said:
not to steal this thread but i didnt think hurculiner or anything of that sort made it quieter, i always thought it had the opposite effect. I dont know though.
Click to expand...
Depends on the type of bedliner product put on I think. The more malleable/soft the more noise suppresion you should get out it. The idea is to keep the sheet metal from vibrating (i.e. making noise).

Even the old fashioned Gator Guard stuff that CTC sells made a huge difference to the tub of my LWB Samurai for noise - and it is fairly rigid, brittle stuff compared to some of the other products.

I'm thinking about "NoiseKiller" on top of Gator Guard for my DD Jeep.

r@m
 
Root Moose said:
Depends on the type of bedliner product put on I think. The more malleable/soft the more noise suppresion you should get out it. The idea is to keep the sheet metal from vibrating (i.e. making noise).

Even the old fashioned Gator Guard stuff that CTC sells made a huge difference to the tub of my LWB Samurai for noise - and it is fairly rigid, brittle stuff compared to some of the other products.

I'm thinking about "NoiseKiller" on top of Gator Guard for my DD Jeep.

r@m
Click to expand...

well, if you put herculiner where there was no carpet before then the sound will get deadened. If you use herculiner to replace carpet then your noise inside the vehicle will increase. Also the floor is going to be warm. So if carpet removal is the way you're going to go, look for a product (paint) that has ceramic additives in it. It works great as a heat shield and it works also as a noise barrier better then herculiner (and then you can still herculiner the top of it I think). I can't remember the name of that paint, but it's been discussed on the mod tech forum sometime in between late July and September of last year.
 
Good points.

In my case I'm putting the carpet back down. I may eventually replace it with a rubber floor liner.

r@m
 
go to www.madxj.com

has the write up on the newer door seals. I just replaced mine with stock replacements and it's super tight now, no road/wind noise, and it takes a good slam to close the door. Got them off of ebay. Juice
 
Anyone have a good fix for the "tweeked" doors? My 2dr leaks at the center of the window. I can see thru the back side between the frame and the b-pillar. I was thinking, roll down window and push the bottom of door while pulling on the top of the door... anyone? anyone?
 
Thanks for the suggestions, folks... But I probably should've been clearer in my initial post.

Basically, what I want to do is beef up the stock seals, regardless of year (though mine was an '01, and will likely be replaced with another '01 once the insurance company pulls their thumb out...). My thought was that it may be possible to do a double seal, but there may well be better ways of going about this. I never had a problem with the stock seals in weather, but what I'm mainly concerned about are water crossings. Having just witnessed firsthand what 'flood damage' really means, I'd prefer to not repeat the experiment on a DD if at all possible.
 
casm said:
Thanks for the suggestions, folks... But I probably should've been clearer in my initial post.

Basically, what I want to do is beef up the stock seals, regardless of year (though mine was an '01, and will likely be replaced with another '01 once the insurance company pulls their thumb out...). My thought was that it may be possible to do a double seal, but there may well be better ways of going about this. I never had a problem with the stock seals in weather, but what I'm mainly concerned about are water crossings. Having just witnessed firsthand what 'flood damage' really means, I'd prefer to not repeat the experiment on a DD if at all possible.
Click to expand...

Well, but in your case it's different: there you had water under a fair amount of pressure gitting those seals. Plus I really wonder how much water went through at the seals and how much found other ways og getting into your jeep.
 
Kejtar said:
Well, but in your case it's different: there you had water under a fair amount of pressure gitting those seals.
Click to expand...

Good point. Right now, I'm probably just a bit more paranoid than usual about the matter :)

Plus I really wonder how much water went through at the seals and how much found other ways og getting into your jeep.
Click to expand...

Well, the doors were closed and the windows up when it happened. My usual leak spot was the firewall grommet on the driver's side, but that was because I had a Warn winch plug run through there from the battery that I'd never properly re-sealed. Thing is, even with that, I usually would only get a few drops on the floor mats. What I do remember is that the water was mainly coming in around the door - again, pressure: it was forcing its way in down the A-pillar.
 
casm said:
Good point. Right now, I'm probably just a bit more paranoid than usual about the matter :)



Well, the doors were closed and the windows up when it happened. My usual leak spot was the firewall grommet on the driver's side, but that was because I had a Warn winch plug run through there from the battery that I'd never properly re-sealed. Thing is, even with that, I usually would only get a few drops on the floor mats. What I do remember is that the water was mainly coming in around the door - again, pressure: it was forcing its way in down the A-pillar.
Click to expand...

In that case, I wouldn't worry about it (unless you're planning to battle a flash flood again)
 
Kejtar said:
(unless you're planning to battle a flash flood again)
Click to expand...

Uh... I think I'll try not to make a habit of that :)
 
One of the things I do to extend the life of my seals is to spray them 2 or 5 times a year with a spray silicone. This also keeps them from freezing to the door frames in super cold icy weather. One can does all three jeeps and the wifes oldsmobile.
 
Ludakris said:
Anyone have a good fix for the "tweeked" doors? My 2dr leaks at the center of the window. I can see thru the back side between the frame and the b-pillar. I was thinking, roll down window and push the bottom of door while pulling on the top of the door... anyone? anyone?
Click to expand...
this happened to my back door, so i took a two by four and wedged it in there below or above the bent part and then pushed on it, use steady stokes, slamming it doesnt do anything. HTH

scott

woops i just read your post and i thought you were talking about the side, for that you might be able to just hit the door with a peice of wood up against it.
 
Ludakris said:
Anyone have a good fix for the "tweeked" doors? My 2dr leaks at the center of the window. I can see thru the back side between the frame and the b-pillar. I was thinking, roll down window and push the bottom of door while pulling on the top of the door... anyone? anyone?
Click to expand...

I have done that to many XJ's after my panel beater showed me the way ;)
Just roll down the window and put your knee at the top of the door trim and then pull on the top of the door frame with your hands. Dont jerk, just do it smoothly and double check a lot. I have lined up all my doors perfectly this way and have done it on many others as well with never a problem.
 
casm said:
My thought was that it may be possible to do a double seal, but there may well be better ways of going about this.
Click to expand...

I tried to do this like they have on the Toyota 4x4's etc and it is too hard on the XJ. The probem is that the gap between the door frame and pillar is not consistant at all and gets far wider towards the bottom. Also make sure that the join in the rubber seal is glued together. This made a big difference with mine when crossing rivers and keeping the water out.
 
casm said:
Good point. Right now, I'm probably just a bit more paranoid than usual about the matter :).
Click to expand...

I just had a problem with my locks on a 96' XJ and had to take apart the door panels , I notice that the bottom of the door there are drain holes ..Im guessing that in a flood water will by pass the seals come up the drain holes and get into the Jeep thru the panel ...this may be where your water came from...just my $0.2 cents
 
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