JeepDawg said:
A somewhat unrelated question.....but I bought some later model doors for my 85 XJ. They fit, but a lot of air comes up into the cabin. I don't think the doors fit as snugly as the original (but the originals had rust..and I'm planning on having it repainted). Even when I close the doors.....they close....but they require a bit more force than with the original doors.
Anyway, could I get someone to do the same thing......but have them remove the brackets, the re-weld them so the doors fit better? Is this a costly fix?
A Jfiscus says, you shouldn't have to weld to get your doors in line. There are basically four ways you can adjust them.
1: The shims in the hinges. This sets the basic horizontal tilt of the door. From the factory they come with one shim under each hinge. If your hinges wear and sag, one solution is to remove the upper shim and put it in the lower hinge. Your object here is to make the vertical gaps between door and fender, and between door and center post (or rear quarter on a 2-door) as even as possible before the latch comes into play to finish it up. If the shims are removed and the door is pushed too far forward, the latch will collide with the head of the latch post. So you might need to add a shim to the bottom without removing the top one. The shims are slotted so they can slide in without removing the bolts. You can make your own out of sheet metal if you need extras.
2: The position of the door on the hinges. There's a lot of latitude in the holes that allows you to move the door around on the hinges. It can take a bit of experimenting, but you can change the vertical alignment of the door in the frame, the degree to which the front edge of the door is flush with the fender, and the overall height of the door. Your object here is to get the front edge of the door as nearly flush with the fender as you can, not to protorude at either top or bottom, and to have it close firmly on the gaskets without requiring too much force. Also you want the get the whole height up where it belongs. It helps to have two people working on this so one can lift while the other snugs the screws. When aligning an older door, use the panel as your guide for in-out setting, rather than the window frame, which will often be out of line by itself (see 4).
3: The latch post. If you unscrew it a bit, it can be moved around. No matter how well you align the door, if it's old and saggy, it will probably not line up perfectly until it latches. You can use the position of the latch post to set the final position higher, or deeper, as necessary. Range here is limited, but it should make final alignment just about perfect if you've done the rest.
3: The shape of the door itself. After many years, it's pretty common for the window frames to be pushed outward a little. This will contribute to wind noise. It's not hard to rebend them for a better fit on top. First make sure the main part of the door is as well aligned as you can get it. Then just tug inward on the part of the frame you think is not in far enough. Take it easy, don't break it, and don't twist it too much. You can also use something like a two-by-four as a lever to tweak it inward, but I've found it's usually enough just to brace a knee against the inside of the door and yank a little. Don't overdo this. A very little goes a long way.
) on door adjusting I've seen. Been doing that for 15years since I managed a body shop so putting all that in one post was great. Better archive it somewhere! Better put the upper frame adjusting in bold, don't want a rookie to accidentally make some 1/2 doors!! On fragile ones I find that a 2x4 in between the door and the body gives enough space to tweak the top without "Oh Crap" happening.
