Front Door Alignment 1979 Hardtop Help (1 Viewer)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

Joined
May 12, 2021
Threads
7
Messages
43
Location
Bay Area
Hi There,

I've never posted here, but love to read and learn about the 40 series land cruiser from this forum.

I need some help adjusting my front driver's side door on a US 1979 FJ40.
As you can see the passenger door operates perfectly and is well aligned IMO. The driver's on the other hand is far from aligned… So I've come to you guys for help. I've searched the forum for posts like this but haven't had any luck finding something useful.

Here's a google drive folder to watch me close the door and see how difficult it is. There are two videos of the bad door and one of the good door.
FJ40 Ih8Mud - Google Drive - https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Y-iMX96nEdQW1PmObB3SuLZy9fEf0ReF?usp=sharing


Thanks in advance!

Driver Door (Problem):
IMG_4763.jpeg

IMG_4762.jpeg
IMG_4761.jpeg
IMG_4759.jpeg
IMG_4758.jpeg
IMG_4757.jpeg
IMG_4756.jpeg




Passenger Door (No Problem IMO)

IMG_4755.jpeg
IMG_4754.jpeg
IMG_4753.jpeg
 
Have you tried loosening the hinges from inside. They are a royal pain to get access to the nuts. You may want to use the search feature to read up on what others have done.
Good luck.
 
Have you tried loosening the hinges from inside. They are a royal pain to get access to the nuts. You may want to use the search feature to read up on what others have done.
Good luck.
I measured the distance of how far the hinge protrudes from the body on each side and determined they are the same. Thank you though.
 
How about just adjust by the hinge bolts, 6 of them outside. Loosen, adjust the door, tighten.
 
How about just adjust by the hinge bolts, 6 of them outside. Loosen, adjust the door, tighten.
Thanks! I did that to move the door up a bit which worked, but haven't been able to close the gap at the back of the door :(
 
Bump: Can anybody else assist with this? Next stop is the auto body shop to have a look.
 
From the video looks like doesn't have enough arc travel from the pivot point to latch. Have you checked weatherstrip contact at the hinge side?
 
I can't get your videos to work and your pics are terrible, entirely too close up and at odd angles. The only decent shot you have is of passenger door where it's square on but still only have half the door in the frame(it also needs adjustment or it wouldn't be hitting and chipping itself at the top back corner). From what I can see, or think I can see, you need to loosen all the bolts attaching the hinges to the driver's door except for the one at the point on the lower hinge. You'll want this one just good and snug. Open the door just enough to clear the striker(or remove it entirely- which I recommend) then lift straight up on the bottom corner of the door, from the latch end of the door. It should pivot on your snug bolt. If you're good you can use one hand to tighten up a bolt on the top hinge to lock it back down while holding up the corner with the other. Or recruit a buddy. I'd remove your striker entirely until the door will sit square in the opening, then reinstall and adjust it to fit your nice, squarely closing door. It'll just be in your way and fighting you until that point.
 
With the door open, do you have any up and down play when lifting up from the corner. That could be a sign of bad bushing.
 
I have a similar problem to this - I think it is caused by the front driver pillar having a bend in it where the door limiter is located, but I haven't focused on it yet, so not 100% certain. You can also see the door kind of leans in towards the bottom, it causes the gap at the top, like in your photos.

1643047179916.png
1643047356866.png
 
With the door open, do you have any up and down play when lifting up from the corner. That could be a sign of bad bushing.
No Really. I loosened the interior hinges as to move the front of the door out further from the body as I thought it might be getting tight there and not allowing it to close at the rear latch area.
 
From the video looks like doesn't have enough arc travel from the pivot point to latch. Have you checked weatherstrip contact at the hinge side?
What doesn't have enough travel? I think you might be on to something. It feels very tight as it gets close to the latch... Weatherstrip on the hinge side looks normal but it feels very tight around that area.
 
The bushings in the hinge itself, plastic, will have quite a bit to do with the alignment. There are brass replacements available. A guy on here sells them.
 
The bushings in the hinge itself, plastic, will have quite a bit to do with the alignment. There are brass replacements available. A guy on here sells them.
Okay Might as well replace them then. Any other thoughts?
I just can't see that replacing some door bushings is going to solve how far out my door sticks at the rear. Wonder if the body needs to be bent or the door...
 
They will help, but looking more closely at your pics the door does seem to be out to far. The body mounted hinge would be the ones to adjust for the door being pushed out.
 
They will help, but looking more closely at your pics the door does seem to be out to far. The body mounted hinge would be the ones to adjust for the door being pushed out.
That was my line of thought. Do you know of caulk like material around the hinge. I cut it to try and move the hinge out with little luck.
I guess I’ll loosen and keep trying haha.
 
The caulk type stuff is just a weather seal.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom