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Thread: Will the doors ever stop haunting me?

  1. #1
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    Will the doors ever stop haunting me?

    I have been working with my doors for some time now, and having a lot of fun. It is truly a journey, and I am looking forward to the destination.

    Latest question, has anyone had to shim/build up the inside hinge side of the door? My internal metal frame structural brace does not reach the fiberglass on the hinge side of the door inside. Lacks almost 1/2" on top side on top hinge attachment point on one door. I am afraid to force components together with longer countersink bolts, as I hear fiberglass cracking as I do this. Considered bending steel frame to better fit, but still would not be flush along total length of contact with the door. Currently thinking of maybe building up area on inside of door with shim, or thick layer of bonding adhesive. I already have longer countersink bolts.

    The problem does not appear to be in the area at the other end of the structure where the two large carriage bolts attach to the latch plate. The adjustment slots there seem to have plenty of adjustment space left. Although, I am waiting for replacement latch attachment brackets as the ones I have have the opening cable attachment bracket holes 90 degrees off of where they should be. Hint, those of you that have not gotten this far, might want to check your latch bracket plates to see if they match those in the assembly manual.

    Any suggestions, or how you addressed the issue if you had something similar, would be appreciated.

    Thanks, Ralph
    Last edited by rponfick; 11-26-2019 at 12:00 PM.

  2. #2
    Senior Member Robodent's Avatar
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    Ralph, on my truck the drivers door was much harder than the passenger. Yes my inner structure seemed to be off with the shell. I added a couple shims on the bottom hinge to help it along. Rob
    FFR 35 p/u # 0016 Dart 347 TKO 600

  3. #3
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    wallace18's Avatar
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    Doors are the hardest part of the truck, IMO. Took me and my body guy lots of time to get them right. Best of luck and don't give up.

  4. #4
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    Ralph something does not sound right. My frame fit tight against the jam on both top and bottom hinges. Have you talked with FFR about it? Sounds like maybe wrong parts? I would think that the fit against the jam is critical to giving it strength for the hinges. These things are pretty heavy once you put in all the hardware and windows. I put two layers of heat/sound deadening in as well which added quite a bit of weight. I'd give FFR a call and see if something is incorrect.

    As Wallace says, the doors are absolutely the hardest thing to get right. I cussed and screamed more than once at them

  5. #5
    Senior Member DamnYankee's Avatar
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    I feel your pain, I quit twice when doing my doors. But finally got it done.
    You do know about loosening the 2 large carriage bolts in the horizontal brace and moving the two sections up or down? This "twists" the door a bit.
    On my driver door I had to bend the lower hinge slightly where it comes off the chassis and thru the body. You can't tell once installed.
    And on passenger side I had to shim both hinges using 1/8" front end alignment shims.
    I'm sure they're all different. And it also comes down to how you trimmed the doors to get the gap.
    Hang in there, you'll get it.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by bnelson View Post
    Ralph something does not sound right. My frame fit tight against the jam on both top and bottom hinges. Have you talked with FFR about it? Sounds like maybe wrong parts? I would think that the fit against the jam is critical to giving it strength for the hinges. These things are pretty heavy once you put in all the hardware and windows. I put two layers of heat/sound deadening in as well which added quite a bit of weight. I'd give FFR a call and see if something is incorrect.

    As Wallace says, the doors are absolutely the hardest thing to get right. I cussed and screamed more than once at them
    I am sure there is a lot of tolerance in bonding up the door parts, which probably accounts for variations. You appear to have lucked out. I agree a firm mounting from the door to the hinges is critical. FFR did send me the wrong latch bracket that attach on the other side of the door. They are sending replacements (my little bracket holes to run the release cables through were at 90 degrees off). I am not sure if these latch bracket parts can be different, and have any effect on the alignment on the hinge side of the door.
    Will keep at it.
    Thanks for the comments.
    Ralph

  7. #7
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    I found some of my problem by assuming the door hinge area was flat. It appears that the perforated fiberglass reinforcing strip was not glued down flat, with some high spots. Have been trying to grind the area flat, but still not quite there. Hard area to get to.
    It appears I will still have to fill some areas to get a flat fitting surface.
    Ralph

  8. #8

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    Most trouble I had was DD lower. Ended up making a couple of shims...da Bat

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