just got new set of hinges for the 51 chevy pickup but having a hard time getting the door gaps. I can not seem to get the door far enough forward. Also the front of the door the bottom is our but the top really far in. I have enclosed some pics to help explain. Any help is appreciated.
Hey, Given there is some filler in the right side cowl panel this could explane some of your alignment problems, even with new hinges! I'd remove the striker post from the B post, and loosen all the hinge bolts till their finger tight. Close the door and pull the door top outboard, whyle forceing the left corner inboard with your knee. Check the alignment, and if it's improved, tighten the hinge bolts you can get to, without opening the door. This era pick up didn't have great panel alignment when new, and for really show quality panel alignment may require that the A & B posts be corrected by jacking them into alignment, or by cutting and welding. Sometimes too, the door shell and or skin will need sections added or removed to fit the opening for a dead nuts fit.
As Pimpin said this era of vehicle didn't have a lot of built in adjustment. Panel in a lot of these vehicles didn't fit that well when they were new, so some more extensive adjustment (jacking or other correction) might be needed. Try what he suggested and if you are still having problems we can talk about it. When you said that you installed "new" hinges, are they really new or used.
Mine looked similar to your's & even after messing w/all the bolts it still wasn't any better. The factory built very little if any adjustment into them & you'd be surprised how the adjusted them at the factory back then. First be sure your hinge pins are in good shape or you're fighting a loosing battle. But this is how I fixed my problems when my doors looked like yours. Put about 18" long 2x4 on the bottom of the door(not the flange) towards the back of the door. Get your hydraulic jack out & put it under the door & jack it up. Do a little at a time & check the fit at the top of the door & cowl. If it's not right REPEAT again. Once you get that pretty much aligned get a couple of shorter pieces of 2x4(6"-8") Put one of those in the door jam (top and/or bottom) and start forcing the door closed. This will push the front part of the door out & help align it w/the cowl along w/pushing the rear of the door inward. Pull the board(s) out & check the fit. If it's not right REPEAT again. Just like before do a little at a time until you get the best fit. These door jams aren't perfect, remember we're talking about trucks that were made when trucks were used as truck about 99.999% of the time. You may have to do some grinding or you may find yourself filling in some area's w/metal or plastic to make them look "perfect"....joe
Before you start pushing and twisting, do some measuring. I would cross measure from the right side to the left. It is possible that the cowl is pushed in on the right side, there is evidence of body damage in the right cowl area and it might not have been fixed correctly. If the cowl is in the right place, then cross measure the door opening and compare it with the other side. Are the measurements about the same? How did the door fit before you put the new hinges on? It's possible the someone twisted the door to get it to fit before and now with the new hinges you have to fight old problems.
Wow, that thing looks like it needs a bit of work...as FORDCRAGAR points out, I see what looks like a bunch of bondo on the hinge pillar, even up towards the cowl, and that tells me this things been hit, maybe hard, and maybe that hinge pillar is pushed in, making it so nothing will line up. If that's the original door, my guess is it probably took a hit the same time as the hinge pillar, and since it's painted, hard to tell if there's a major repair and plastic on it also, and if it wasn't properly repaired before, you might be trying to fit a door that's sprung and damaged into an opening that also damaged. I also see plastic on the cab corner near where the striker is, so maybe that's pushed in a bit, too...take all those things and add them up, and, well...I know, not a lot of help, but making sure that hinge pillar is in the right place, and that door frame is not sprung, and that cab corner/striker pillar isn't pushed in, that's where I'd start. Good luck! Eric
This is a cl***ic example of the door being swung open to far and bending the area where the louvers are, seen it way too many times. Hell thats how mine would have looked had I just filled it w/plastic instead of beating the dents out and either fixing or removing the louvers. But yes it could have also been hit, but I would bet tweaking the door will fix the gaps. I would bet $$$$ that's where the gas filler neck was & it has been filled in...joe
Got any pix of the hinge to jamb? Can the hinge be spaced out to get more gap at the front? Who knows what went on with a truck of that vintage door, especially if the doors were replaced at some point. Back then at the factory, "select to fit" was what they did on the ***embly line. Bob
toomany2count is correct what happened. While my father in law was moving the truck to his new place the door swung open to far and dented the cowl. i have measured everything and it is within a 1/8". it looks like alot of filler but the dent was pulled out to 1/8-1/16" all the way down the cowl there is just some filler and glazing puddy on it. as for the back it was filing in the gas tank. the hinges are new from chevy parts. the door did not fit before it swung to far open. i will try the 2x4 trick this weekend and see if that will solve any issues.
Okay, you say that this is what happened. From the pictures I had to figure out what was wrong, but now it makes sense. What you have is a door that was turned inside out, so to speak. I would replace the door and your problems should go away. You can play with the door you have and might be able to get it to align, but I would imagine that the door frame is sprung. Whoever fixed it did what they could to get it back in some semblance of order, by bending and twisting the door and hinges to get it to fit somewhat. When you changed the hinges, all of that went away.
Any one know a shop near Denton Texas I can take the truck to get the doors fixed. I gave it around 3 hours yesterday and it is not much better. Not looking for a show truck door gap, just one that closes top to bottom. Thanks all for the advise.
Hey, Upon further study of your posted photos it looks as if the right A post is twisted towards the front of the truck. No amount of hinge adjustment will produce a very good door gap. A measurement taken from the left side upper hinge area to the B post will give a rough guesstmate how far. The best corrective method I could offer would be a pull with a pull plate welded to the A post or bolted to the upper hinge pocket. This would swing the post back and into the correct plane with the B post. I WOULD NOT use a cheap come-a -long for this pull as they have a bad habbit of failure under use! For a half-***ed repair, you could cut a slit in the cowl infront of the gap an pry/drive the hinge plate back into alignment for a good door gap, and add metal to the slit area. Weld and mud your repair and be done with it. Just buying a replacement door won't get you out of the woods on this type of repair. " Embrace the vulgarity "
Pull the door off both sides and make some measurements. You need to see if the post is collapsed or twisted. Measure the inside of the opening and the outside of the opening. If it isn't you should be able to get by with another door.
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