Doors out of adjustment

[John Kalmbach]

Hello Pat,

The rear doors can be adjusted in and out and side to side. The bolts for the side to side adjustment are somewhat covered by the rear door panel. The bolts for the in and out adjustment are the ones that screw into the door jamb.

The bolt now in place of the factory hinge pin is 3/8" diameter. The factory pin was an odd size, so the hinge was drilled out to accept the 3/8" bolt.

I hope this helps.

John K.

[patrick51]

Thanks John: I will look again for this adjustment point. You said somewhat covered by the door panel, is that the plastic panel? what are the adjustment points to look for? Hex type heads or torx? are these on the door ends or interior face> Wish I had the van here as I type this. I will look again tonight as I need to go up to the van. Thanks Pat

[patrick51]

Thanks John: I will look again for this adjustment point. You said somewhat covered by the door panel, is that the plastic panel? what are the adjustment points to look for? Hex type heads or torx? are these on the door ends or interior face> Wish I had the van here as I type this. I will look again tonight as I need to go up to the van. Thanks Pat

[John Kalmbach]

If memory serves me correctly, the bolts are 10mm hex head like the side door hinge bolts. The ones partially covered by the door panel may also be under a black rubber cover about 1 1/2" x 2 1/2" (not all the vans had these black rubber covers). The vinyl covered door panel that SMB installs is held in place with "push-in" type fasteners. You can pry the lower edge of the door panel closest to the hinge side using a large flat blade screwdriver or body panel removal tool.

You shouldn't need to take the vinyl door panel completely off, just pull it back far enough to remove the black rubber cover so that you can access the bolts.

Thanks,
John K.

[DUKCSUN]

This was genius advice. My side doors had "migrated" similar to the picture and figured that was just the way it is.

For the record, the adjustment bolts on the side are 10MM hex (as John indicated) and my "solution" for getting it right was to:
1. Remove the galley box from the door (if present)
2. Remove the rubber grommet/covers (these are oblong black cover pieces in the door opposite the hinges) by simply grabbing then and pulling them out.
3. Loosen (don't remove) the adjustment bolts (2 each top and bottom)
4. Close the door lightly until it clicks solidly into place.
5. Put your hand on the door right at the "latch" mechanism and push towards to hinges. You should be able to see the door "straighten up"
6. While you are holding the door tight and in place, tighten the bolts a bit to make sure it stays put (this is probably easier with two people but I have the arms of an ape)
7. Open the door gently and tighten all the bolts back to the German Torque Standard and test to make sure the door closes and engages the latch easily.
8. Re-install Galley Box and test again.

My side door, which were almost touching at the top and previously had to be slammed or at least shut hard to latch and would frequently come unlatched and rattle during washboard runs, now takes one finger to close and latch tight. I only needed to adjust the left side door and now the gap at the top is correct and everything fits great.

Good looking out for the experts on this one.

[billwilson]

Driver Door Adjustment?

gents and ladies
my driver door vibrates under certain conditions
i added a second strip of stick on weatherstrip and it reduced the rattle

but certain road vibration still makes it rattle

if hold the arm rest and pull INWARD, it stops
therefore i surmise it aint shutting tightly enough

if i crank up the sterio, it goes away

i have not dinked around with it, only the weather strip

i assume there is a "shutting tighter" adjustment??