How do I make my door fit?

Moab

Moab

TJ Expert
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Dec 15, 2018
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El Segundo, California
So I pulled my half doors and installed full doors. (After letting the PB Blaster sit overnight. Amazing stuff.) But now there's this problem:

Passenger door sits perfect and closes perfect. The drivers side door however is about a good quarter inch to low. If I push up on the door frame as I close it - it will close. But the locking mechanism hits the gold square on the door jamb and the hinges raise up the same distance to make it fit. Might even be closer to 1/3". If I had the nuts on the ends of the hinge pins it wouldn't close for sure. (I just don't have them as PO didn't use them.)

I didn't have this problem with the half doors I had on.

Are the hinges on the door adjustable? If I loosen them is there any play in there I can adjust with - to get as much as 1/3" or more clearance? What if I beat on the top of the locking mechanism to open it wider so that it takes the gold square into itself? (Not sure what the technical terms are.) Or what if I bend the gold square down and the locking mechanism up - that would only be about an 1/8" adjustment on each?

Or do I need to go to a bodyshop? How screwed am I?

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loosen all the screws on the door hinges (be prepared for cracked paint when you do)...there's quite a bit of adjustment..if it's enough depends on where they're set now

fit the door to the opening first, then adjust the latch to close the door properly
 
Lift the door up to latch it. Stick a paint stick under the door, loosen the bolts on the hinges on the door. Move them down until they are sitting flat on the lower hinges, make sure the door is square in the hole as best as you can and tighten the hinges back up. You should be very close.
 
I loosened the torx screws - they came out with no problem. Held the door up by the window frame under my shoulder using my right hand. And pushed it up into position. Then with my other hand tightened the top torx screw down. And they fit almost perfectly now.

The upper hinge/pin still has a small gap in the middle but only like 1/8" or so. Door closes perfectly. Everything went back ok. The whole door is painted black and the hinges have rubber under them. So no noticeable mars or differences in finish.

Thanks for all the help guys. :)

My almost perfect scratched up new full doors! They aren't perfectly set. But I figure when I take it into the body shop for paint correction and touch up. I can have them fine tune them. So the lines are all straight. All I cared about was that they shut right and wouldn't leak. Everything appears to be a tight seal. And now I can see out my side windows. So much safer.

I think I'm ready to do the seat swap next. My old 97-02 doors for a set of like new 03-06 doors. And painting those ugly flares. Just waiting on paint.

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This thread is very helpful. I bought some used half doors on Facebook marketplace and I was pretty concerned when I got home and they didn't line up correctly. I am thinking about re-selling them before I pay for painting. Gonna give this a try and this may save my project.
 
Other than adjusting the striker in the door frame is there a way to make the door close "tighter" to the body? I have the panel spacing worked out in relation to the tub but it seems like the door should be closing farther "in" towards the body of the Jeep. I have already moved the striker all the way in.
 
The correct way to align the door is to slightly loosen the hinge bolts that thread into the door. Just enough so it can be moved around. I use tapered pieces of wood to stick in between the door and door opening to center it and then tighten the hinge bolts.
 
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Even in a world of mass production you're not going to take a door off of one vehicle and put it on another without adjustment... If it happens it's not going to be the norm by a long shot... That is why there is adjustability built in... Both at the hinges and the strike plate.

Factor in there is various wear to the hinge pins and the bushings inside the hinge bracket. . Remember a 32nd at the hinge may show up as 1/8 at the strike... You're going to have to go through the process as Jerry indicated... Typically if you'll be patient you'll get really good results.

Don't let anybody fool you that these things aren't adjusted during assembly either... They have jigs and procedures that insure good fitment on all vehicles.

It is well known that Jerry once stared at a door for 30 minutes and went inside and ate a sandwich and came out and it was perfectly adjusted... But normal humans can't do that.
 
My issue is getting the door "flush" with the tub. After following the tips on this thread my lines and body panel gaps are pretty good. It feels like I have too much "gasket" on this new door. Is that a thing? Do they sell different width door "gaskets"?

Once again this forum has been VERY helpful in assisting me when I go out and blow money on a TJ project I'm in over my head on. Thank you all.
 
If someone replaced the gasket with non-oem, then yes, this could happen, but gaskets are pretty compressible. How much is the door out? Jeeps are not built to tight tolerances, so a picture of the two different sides might be useful for people to compare to their own vehicles as well. If the striker plate is all the way in the only other variable is the latch itself, which may well be worn.
 
Same concept, just opposite order. Snug the screws into the window frame and then gently close the door. Use wood strips or fold rags or something to align the spacing along the bottom of the door. Then fully tighten the screws into the window frame. Done.
 
Stockli said:
So what do you do if you take the hinges off the tub and windshield to repaint them?

never loosened the door side
Click to expand...
the hinges are adjustable.. here's a pic of one of the sliding adjustment plates that's inside a windshield frame
fWFeMMX.jpg


the doors and tailgate have similar plates as well, so after painting everything needs to be adjusted
 
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Moab said:
I loosened the torx screws - they came out with no problem. Held the door up by the window frame under my shoulder using my right hand. And pushed it up into position. Then with my other hand tightened the top torx screw down. And they fit almost perfectly now.

The upper hinge/pin still has a small gap in the middle but only like 1/8" or so. Door closes perfectly. Everything went back ok. The whole door is painted black and the hinges have rubber under them. So no noticeable mars or differences in finish.

Thanks for all the help guys. :)

My almost perfect scratched up new full doors! They aren't perfectly set. But I figure when I take it into the body shop for paint correction and touch up. I can have them fine tune them. So the lines are all straight. All I cared about was that they shut right and wouldn't leak. Everything appears to be a tight seal. And now I can see out my side windows. So much safer.

I think I'm ready to do the seat swap next. My old 97-02 doors for a set of like new 03-06 doors. And painting those ugly flares. Just waiting on paint.

View attachment 88037

View attachment 88038
Click to expand...

I know this is old, but do you recall having trouble removing those torx screws for the door hinge? I've snapped a torx bit trying.
 
SSTJ said:
I know this is old, but do you recall having trouble removing those torx screws for the door hinge? I've snapped a torx bit trying.
Click to expand...

I also snapped a torx bit off. Drill out the head and the rest unscrewed from the inside bracket by hand. Don't be stratus to drill - they screw into a piece of metal that will drop to the floor after you unscrew the second torx. I ended up drilling out both - new screws are cheap.

D
 
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Mine came out easy. But there was more corrosion than expected. Like a white powder. Reminded me of corroded aluminum. I put a good amount of white lithium on them before screwing them back in. In fact, every single nut, bolt/fitting that I have taken apart on this Jeep has gotton a generous amount if white lithium grease applied to it.
 
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