Door rattles? Here’s how I fixed mine (1 Viewer)

[southern son]

My door strike catches had worn severely in on the driver’s side cause one of many rattles, so I got a little creative and thought I’d share with the forum. Maybe it’s a start at giving back some knowledge that I’ve gained from it.

Also, I realize that not everyone has a machine shop so this may not be feasible...but if you do or know someone that does it took all of 10 minutes to set up and mill. This fix is not for the purists and surely others can drill holes more even/square than I can in a hurry. I fully accept that it’s not perfect but neither is my 40 and that’s what I enjoy about it

I thought the plates were totally square and would make milling them flat again easy - they’re not. They’re cast with a slight uphill slope and tapered downward. Figured I wasn’t out much to try it since I was planning on buying new ones anyway. So I began to think about a potentially replaceable surface that would offer less noise but sturdy enough to handle the repeated metal contact. I came up with plastic/nylon strips from Amazon for $7. It’s a 1” x 1’ x 1/8” that easily worked with a saw or other pneumatic tool Nylon Strip.

This is the passenger side before I started and then after milling

You can see the other one I’d already done, since I didn’t know whether or not it would work I never took pictures of the first attempt. Here’s the tapped and shaped product (pardon my poor attempt to counter sink the nylon for the tapered screw heads).

Hope that helps some people, any questions please feel free to ask.

 

[southern son]

Here’s a profile shot of the metal before I started as well for reference and the final installed pic

 

[Mark Jennings]

Cool Beans!

 

[1969FJ]

You are correct. Not everyone has machine shop tools. And, if you get a quote from a shop, it is cheaper to buy new ones. Good job you did as tools were readily available. SOR has a set, new.

 

[Living in the Past]

Downside is the striker on the door that will ride on it will wear faster with a harder material. The catch is made of a softer material for a reason. If you look the striker probably has wear as well.

 

[southern son]

@1969FJ It could be done with hand tools or a grinder but definitely tougher to get totally flat. My end goal was to see if there was a different way of killing two birds with one stone and maybe give others some ideas.

 

[1969FJ]

@1969FJ It could be done with hand tools or a grinder but definitely tougher to get totally flat. My end goal was to see if there was a different way of killing two birds with one stone and maybe give others some ideas.

I know that. I wish I had a mill and proper tolls to do a good job on little items. I once was told the same thing @livinginthepast said, the softer material would wear and save the door closure assembly.

 

[southern son]

Well I guess the good news is that if there’s a way to screw something up, I can still find it haha. Guess we will see how long this holds up and update as time goes on. Should’ve known that there was an intentional wear surface...

 

[B y r o n]

Or you could try something like this.

 

[MoCoNative]

I put new striker plates on 20 some years ago, the originals were pretty worn. I think it helped, but they have worn down again slightly. The worst rattles in my doors are the window crank handles and the door release handles. The passenger side is not as bad, less use, but the drivers rattles pretty bad. Just can't bring my self to replace them with new aftermarket. For one I repainted all of that 20 some years ago, and the new stuff will not match my dash components, plus my dad made these sweet elk antler handles to replace the missing gray plastic. Just can't part with them since he's gone now.

We even added an e-clip to the drivers one and pinged the handle shaft with a hammer back then. I wonder if could put them in the press and tighten them up a little to get the play out. Although the shaft and hole are probably worn too.

I have also noticed after going to a FST several years ago that the tub flexes inward as you gyrate over washboards and rough roads allowing the doors to bounce in and out, further amplifying the rattles in the doors and body. Despite Toyotas efforts with the mid body boxed tube, they probably needed another angled support that came down from the door pillar to the floor to reduce flex in that part of the tub. Would have encroached on foot clearance getting in the back though. If I ever rebuild another tub, I think I will add that feature tastefully. As I recall the old Land Rovers, or Defender bodies had increased support there, probably for that reason.

 

[Living in the Past]

I put new striker plates on 20 some years ago, the originals were pretty worn. I think it helped, but they have worn down again slightly. The worst rattles in my doors are the window crank handles and the door release handles. The passenger side is not as bad, less use, but the drivers rattles pretty bad. Just can't bring my self to replace them with new aftermarket. For one I repainted all of that 20 some years ago, and the new stuff will not match my dash components, plus my dad made these sweet elk antler handles to replace the missing gray plastic. Just can't part with them since he's gone now.

We even added an e-clip to the drivers one and pinged the handle shaft with a hammer back then. I wonder if could put them in the press and tighten them up a little to get the play out. Although the shaft and hole are probably worn too.

I have also noticed after going to a FST several years ago that the tub flexes inward as you gyrate over washboards and rough roads allowing the doors to bounce in and out, further amplifying the rattles in the doors and body. Despite Toyotas efforts with the mid body boxed tube, they probably needed another angled support that came down from the door pillar to the floor to reduce flex in that part of the tub. Would have encroached on foot clearance getting in the back though. If I ever rebuild another tub, I think I will add that feature tastefully. As I recall the old Land Rovers, or Defender bodies had increased support there, probably for that reason.

What soft top are you running? I only run factory bows but I also only run factory soft top doors when running a soft top. Bought my 68 FJ40 in 1974. In 1983 I bought a set of 79 hard doors to replace the rattle trap two piece doors. Northern Arizona where I primarily us an FJ40 is mainly washboard forest service roads. Not just the latch that rattles it's the window section flexing against the main bottom section. Most early doors if you look the main section has a crack at the back of the vent window. I'm guessing if you put a brace on the top of the tub behind the front seats you would find the doors still move as much. Especially if you running anything but OEM style soft top bows.

As I remember the early Land Rovers tubs were aluminum, being a softer metal required extra bracing.

 

[MoCoNative]

Its an Eshan Paki FST so the bows are original copies, good quality. They are my original 73 doors. Yes they had structural fatigue at the joint to the door bottom and top. I don't find they flex or rattle too terribly. I can physically watch the door latch area occillate in and out as you hammer over washboards, was there even when I still had my factory hard-top. As I said, I think that area was just a tad weak. I bet the issue is greatly reduced on a post 79 tub with the stiffer doors and increased support of the tub with the higher floor. Toyota didn't modernize that tub for no reason.

As for the doors, the fitment has issues though, as they tilt inwards towards the top, and the main FST bow does not, leaves a gap in the seal where the window frame starts. The top of the window frame flexes out, so they shut fine, but they are not matching shapes. Never really realized that detail until it was all said and done. The FST doors are straight throughout their length aren't they. Been trying to think of a way to brace the door frame bow part, and pull the top inward just a tad. Or pull the bow off and try to deflect it with a press or something. Will need to shorten the pipe between them, but they come apart on the Paki tops. Just don't want to over bend it, or crease it or tear up the paint job. Maybe not worth the effort, got many other wind noises in a 40.