door latch catch: can't adjust far enough (1 Viewer)

[slickrock]

My doors are shaking and rattling a bit without my hardtop. I adjusted the door catches as far as they will go, but I still need just under 1/4" to make the doors close enough so they don't have any play in them. I should have mentioned that my weather stripping is not the freshest and it has shrunk and thinned.

What's the best way to redo the catches so they can be adjusted more? Drill out the holes and the threads, widen the holes and use new nuts on the inside of the door frame and replace with new bolts? I should be able to access the inside of the holes through the hard top area where the long bars drop into the body.

Or am I overthinking this and there is an easier solution besides replacing the weather strip (not in the cash funds right now)?

 

[cruiser enthuiser]

Are your strikers worn? I just replaced mine with new as I was having a similar problem even with new, albeit aftermarket, weather strip. The doors rattled something awful before and I could not adjust the old strikers further. A couple of times in desperation I pulled to the side of the road and fashioned shims from cardboard or a paper bag just to make the rattle stop. The new strikers solved that problem. If your short on funds I've heard of guys welding on the strikers to build up worn areas.

The other thing I did was to add new brass bushings to the door hinges. This eliminated the significant play and rattle I had in the hinges and I was able to get a really decent fit on my doors for the first time since owning my cruiser. My doors work beautifully now and don't make a squeak. Check out South Boston's thread in classifieds for the bushings, they were very reasonable.

Good luck


-Ed

 

[Poser]

Remove the doors...

 

[myquestoyota]

I added new bushings, turned the strikers over to the fresh side and put new weatherstrip in. Still not enough so I replaced the latches because they had quite a bit of slop in them. Much better but they are still FJ40 doors.

 

[slickrock]

Remove the doors...

Hahaha. Yeah that would be the easiest, but my 7 year old always wants to go for a ride or wheeling and without doors, the gets worried about her little boy falling out going down the road or if I flop. With 4 point harnesses and his full backed booster seat, he can hardly move, let alone fall out. But, it isn't worth the fight or stress to argue about the doors.

My strikers are a bit worn. Might be easy enough to get a strip of metal and weld it onto the striker to give me a bit more tension. Weather stripping is in the future, but not until I do some body work and repaint this fall so need to get through the summer. thanks for the suggestion as it is an easy fix until I get new strikers.

 

[pavieSD]

You can also adjust the doors inward and outward a few millimeters at the hinges on the backside of the A pillar That may give you a bit more inward movement at the catch area as well. I had the opposite issue since i just installed new weatherstripping, so I adjust the door outwards at the hinges to make the door close a bit easier.

 

[Fast Eddy]

Remove the doors...

x2. Why doors with no top? Get some cheap soft 1/2 doors if you insist on doors.

 

[slickrock]

see post 5... Wife

 

[3doghouse]

...My strikers are a bit worn. Might be easy enough to get a strip of metal and weld it onto the striker to give me a bit more tension. ...thanks for the suggestion as it is an easy fix until I get new strikers.

As mentioned earlier, try flipping the strikers first. Unbolt-->flip 180-->bolt back in.

Unless this has already been done, and both sides of both strikers are worn, they are as good as new.

 

[bikersmurf]

As mentioned earlier, try flipping the strikers first. Unbolt-->flip 180-->bolt back in.

Unless this has already been done, and both sides of both strikers are worn, they are as good as new.

8/73 doors are essentially a wedge... Weld to build up, or replace.

 

[Fast Eddy]

Ah. I get it. Go buy $20 worth of weatherstrip at Kragen and put it on top of what you've got.

 

[myquestoyota]

quick fix

A couple pieces of 1/8" plate, a paddle latch off of fleabay and- viola!- doors!

 

[84TROOPY]

sorry for the newby question but can someone explain how to adjust the catch?