Door and Windshield Frame Alignment Problem – Need Help! (1 Viewer)

[1979 FJ40ish]

I’m trying to reinstall the doors on my 79 FJ40 following a frame off restoration and have encountered a fitment issue with the front edge of the doors at the windshield frame (see the picture).

The way things are right now the seal on the front edge of the doors won’t even touch the side of the windshield frame. I have the same issue with both doors but it’s slightly better on the passenger side.

The doors, windshield and related hinges were removed so everything could be painted. The half of the door hinges that bolts to the body were NOT removed. All components are factory original except for a new OEM factory seal has been installed between the bottom of the windshield and the top of the cowl. The only thing that has been done to everything else is a fresh coat of paint.

I’ve made all the adjustments to the doors I can with the hinges and the gaps at the bottom and rear edges of the doors seem to be good. The two bolts holding the windshield frame upright are as tight as I dare make them. I’m confident that I installed the new windshield seal correctly.

Since the positions of the door hinges hasn’t changed and the gaps around the bottom and rear edge of the doors look good it seems to me the problem must somehow be related to the installation of the windshield frame.

As I recall the bolt holes in the small brackets (see picture) are slotted to allow for some adjustment. Could the position of these brackets (they were removed for painting) be causing the alignment problem?

Has anyone else encountered this problem and if so, how did you fix it?

 

[69LC]

Do you have both door headers installed?

 

[1979 FJ40ish]

Yes

 

[S4Cruiser]

In the pic above, I only see one header installed (on passenger side)...regardless, you should have some adjustment in the red circled part below. loosen your windshield knobs and the screws circled. Then have someone (or use a ratchet strap) to pull back on the window frame. Get your gap where you want it and then tighten red circled screws and window screws.

 

[69LC]

What do the gaps look like around the doors? Pics?

 

[1979 FJ40ish]

As noted in my original post the gaps along the bottom and the rear edge of the doors appear to be correct. I have shifted the doors every way possible (within the limits of the door hinges) but I can't improvement on the fitment between the door and the end of the window frame.

I had the header installed over both front doors but doing so does not improvement the fitment issue and just to be clear the fit was fine before I took everything apart for painting.

I'm trying to find out if there are less obvious adjustment that can be made with the window hinges and or black bracket that my help close the gap.

 

[S4Cruiser]

As noted in my original post the gaps along the bottom and the rear edge of the doors appear to be correct. I have shifted the doors every way possible (within the limits of the door hinges) but I can't improvement on the fitment between the door and the end of the window frame.

I had the header installed over both front doors but doing so does not improvement the fitment issue and just to be clear the fit was fine before I took everything apart for painting.

I'm trying to find out if there are less obvious adjustment that can be made with the window hinges and or black bracket that my help close the gap.

Are you using a new windshield to cowl rubber gasket? Maybe try fitting without it and see if the helps?? Just spit-balling ideas...

If doing so without the gasket allows you to fold the windshield over farther AND it isn't a new gasket (or even it is) you can likely gain some height (distance b/w the bottom of the windshield frame and top of the cowl where they contact the gasket) by loosening, lifting windshield frame and then tightening the hinge screws.

 

[1979 FJ40ish]

Yes it is a new OEM gasket. I'll try to unloosening and lifting the hinge screws in the morning.

 

[emac]

i would consider loosening the body to frame mount bolts. You may have thing tweaked a little and loosening them may relieve some stress and allow the doors, top, etc to bolt in correctly. Then see if you need to shim any body mounts.

 

[thecrazygreek]

If that windshield frame is horked back as far as you think it will go, what you have there is a door hinge issue. My 64 did the exact same thing. Reach in there and loosen up the inner door hinges, as well as what everyone has suggested doing.

The ratchet strap idea might also work great, but I don't know how much that frame can handle without tweaking...

Good luck...

 

[ColoradoFJ40]

I don't think your windshield is at the correct angle . A new gasket is very hard to compress and get pulled back into position. Do you have a picture from the front of the truck so we can see how squeezed down the gasket is?

 

[hobbes]

How do the windshield screw spacers (2 of them) look? I think they are 40 mm long. Is there a gap there indicating the windshield should come back more?

 

[1979 FJ40ish]

Here are 4 pictures I took a few minutes ago showing a wide and close up view of the gasket as well as 2 end views of the gasket from the drivers side.

I've tried loosening the 2 bolts holding the windshield upright and then pushing on the top corner of the frame. I'm 6' and over 200# and I can't compress the gasket any more than it already is.

FYI - I have new windshield glass in the frame so I'm somewhat leery of pull the frame into position.

I don't believe it is a door hinge issue since I never removed the portion of the hinge mounted to the body.

 

[emac]

Do the door strickers line up?

 

[middlecalf]

Caveat - I’ve never had to deal with this. So I have no experience with it.

What I’d do (read caveat again, lol) is loosen the two brackets you mention (just enough so they can move in place) and remove the new windshield-to-cowl seal - if you can without damage to it, not sure if it gets/got any adhesive - and then position the windshield so everything is lined up (including headers), then tighten those brackets. Replace seal and see what the status is. At least then you know the brackets are where they need to be for everything else to line up. I wonder about what’s going on around the defrost vent holes and the wiper electrical cable hole wrt the seal, maybe getting pinched and not compressing enough. Good luck, hopefully this is a simple “ah ha” sort of thing. Paul

On edit - wonder if you’d have to remove the dash pad to do what I suggested?

 

[S4Cruiser]

Caveat - I’ve never had to deal with this. So I have no experience with it.

What I’d do (read caveat again, lol) is loosen the two brackets you mention (just enough so they can move in place) and remove the new windshield-to-cowl seal - if you can without damage to it, not sure if it gets/got any adhesive - and then position the windshield so everything is lined up (including headers), then tighten those brackets. Replace seal and see what the status is. At least then you know the brackets are where they need to be for everything else to line up. I wonder about what’s going on around the defrost vent holes and the wiper electrical cable hole wrt the seal, maybe getting pinched and not compressing enough. Good luck, hopefully this is a simple “ah ha” sort of thing. Paul

On edit - wonder if you’d have to remove the dash pad to do what I suggested?

This is similar and along the lines as what I was trying to say above. Would help determine if the gasket was preventing the windshield from folding over enough.

The gasket shouldn’t need adhesive and the dash pad does not need to be removed!

 

[middlecalf]

Another uneducated (from me) thought is how warm is your shop/garage? Maybe some heat from a hair dryer or heat gun would help the new seal to compress.

S4Cruiser - yeah I should have read your post closer. OP, what @S4Cruiser said!

 

[1979 FJ40ish]

I removed the 2 bolts that hold the windshield upright and discovered I could push the windshield frame back a bit more. After confirming the gasket was correctly positioned and wasn't binding or pinching against the frame I spent time repositioning the small brackets (see the 2nd picture at the top of this post) bolted to the windshield frame and used to secure the bolts that hold the windshield frame upright.

I loosened the center body to frame mount on the drivers side and tried to lift the tub with a floor jack but that didn't seem to help. If I run out of things to try I'll also loosen the front body mount.

At this point the passenger side looks much better and the driver's side is slightly improved. I'll work on it some more tomorrow.

 

[Jetlander]

I think @middlecalf might be on to something. If the temps are cold it would definitely hinder the plyibility (yes I just made that word up...) of the seal.

 

[emac]

I like the idea of taking the gasket out and see how that works. I lubed all my rubber when I installed it . You have to narrow down where the problem actually lies before you start doing irreversible things like drilling out hinge mounts for more play, bending the windshield frame, etc. If the rear part of the tub is tweaked then your door strickers will be off and you will have to tip the door to get it to latch, that will make the door/windshield frame junction not line up. That is why I suggested loosening everything until all the bolts are started, then tighten and see how it goes.

Is the windshield off or is something else off. Take a step back and scratch your chin. That rig looks too nice to crack a windshield or ruin the paint!! Did you have any major body panel work done when the tub was off?