HOW TO-Allign doors on 71 FJ40 (1 Viewer)

[Brandon rescue]

Im slowoly overhauling my 71 and it seems one door gets really close to the windshield and has a howling while one is too far and seems to be pushing away when trying to push it in. I put on 73 doors on a 71 so it should be fine(so i think).
How the heck can u align these doors?? thank you fellow fj40 brothers.

-Brandon

 

[Pulso]

I went through this recently. I loosened the three bolts on each hinge, on the outside of the door, just enough to give it some play. Then I loosened the four bolts on the other end of each hinge. These are kinda tough to get to, but I could do it with an open-ended wrench (I forgot what size), and I didn't need to remove the gauge cluster or anything.
With the door loose, but still attached, have someone hold it up where you want it, and tightened everything down. You'll be able to adjust it up/down, left/right, and in/out. I tried to do this by myself, but the door is too heavy.
Good luck!

 

[Roboosfj40s]

I went through this recently. I loosened the three bolts on each hinge, on the outside of the door, just enough to give it some play. Then I loosened the four bolts on the other end of each hinge. These are kinda tough to get to, but I could do it with an open-ended wrench (I forgot what size), and I didn't need to remove the gauge cluster or anything.
With the door loose, but still attached, have someone hold it up where you want it, and tightened everything down. You'll be able to adjust it up/down, left/right, and in/out. I tried to do this by myself, but the door is too heavy.
Good luck!

The wrench is 10mm Lots of fun but it will make you a happy camper when done right.

 

[antFJ]

Im slowoly overhauling my 71 and it seems one door gets really close to the windshield and has a howling while one is too far and seems to be pushing away when trying to push it in. I put on 73 doors on a 71 so it should be fine(so i think).
How the heck can u align these doors?? thank you fellow fj40 brothers.

-Brandon

is the hardtop on? do you have the windshield spacers inbetween the dash and windshield frame that the black screw knobs go through to get the windshield at the right angle? the windshield might be at the wrong angle on one side or the other and needs to be adjusted instead of the doors... worth a look

 

[Brandon rescue]

@ Pulso-i was only aware there were the three bolts on the two hinges that hold the door. Where by any chance are the other 4 that you are talking about??? If you have pics that would be great.

@ antFJ-No i literally just have it sitting on the car not even bolted. i need to put the rubber on it and spacers between the windshield and hardtop. it just seems that even when im gonna be in the future putting on the rubber gasket around the door, its gonna still have a lot of space for rain to just fall right on through from the corners above me

 

[Hogan]

do you have the windshield spacers inbetween the dash and windshield frame that the black screw knobs go through to get the windshield at the right angle?

Does anyone know how long the spacer needs to be?

 

[antFJ]

i think i confused you... these are the spacers i'm talking about

also i think I was confused... you are having issues adjusting the door in and out?? if so then there are ways to adjust that on the hinge bolts that are underneath the dashboard as well as the striker

also i tried to find the picture that shows the adjustments of doors and where they are.. its from a FSM and is somewhere on Ih8mud - can't find it though :/



EDIT: i would measure for you but its currently raining!! also i think different years had different angles? is this true? so early doors vs. later doors? so different length spacers?

 

[Hogan]

That's the spacer I was asking about, right now I don't have any. Mines a 71 so if they are different lengths, I'm looking for the length for a 71

 

[antFJ]

i'm about to take my 71 windshield frame off on saturday .. if there are spacers in there i'll measure one for ya

 

[Hogan]

Thanks

 

[mybluetoy]

@ Pulso-i was only aware there were the three bolts on the two hinges that hold the door. Where by any chance are the other 4 that you are talking about???

I just did this, kind of. A friend Came over and we took the hinges out to replace with some fab up ones he made (more on those later). The four refered to are what mount the hinge to the body. I believe the wrench size was 12mm on mine.

The said hinges above are going to make door removal quick and simple.

 

[Pulso]

@ Pulso-i was only aware there were the three bolts on the two hinges that hold the door. Where by any chance are the other 4 that you are talking about??? If you have pics that would be great.

There are 3 bolts that attach the door to the hinge, and then 4 bolts that attach the hinge to the body. Just look at the hinge and reach behind the dash to find its backside. It's much easier on the passenger side.
Once you have all fourteen bolts loosened you can move the door around quite a bit. You won't get too far by loosening just the six on the door.

 

[Brandon rescue]

Oh. That makes perfect sense! sorry
Ill give that a try and give u an update on whether or not i run into any problems that will get in the way(sleeping black widows in the dash)

 

[antFJ]

so the spacers were MIA on my truck anyone else got some measurements?

 

[DSRTRDR]

Does anyone know how long the spacer needs to be?

a tube of ~1.5 inches long and ~5/8 diameter will get you there - if not long enough, add a washer - done

 

[dx379]

Subscribed. I need to do this also.

Jonny

 

[Hogan]

a tube of ~1.5 inches long and ~5/8 diameter will get you there - if not long enough, add a washer - done

Cool thanks for the measurements