Looking at the hinge itself, placing a block of wood in it and slowly
trying to close the door on it shouldn't 'pop' the hinge. I wasn't
planning on slamming the door on it to try and fix the problem.
I'll probably end up taking it to a body shop in the end if I can't make
any progress, but at least I have a much better understanding of the
problem.
On Thu, 26 Jan 2006, Rick Barnes wrote:
>
> That makes much more sense that the door bent instead of the pillar Miles
> and that is very good news. I don't know if you could fix it by closing the
> door on a piece of wood, but you know what? I would likely try it, what the
> heck, its already goofed up anyway. Just try it a little at a time IF you
> do try it and please don't get mad at me if you pop a hinge or something.
>
> Rascal
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-dakota-truck@bent.twistedbits.net
> [mailto:owner-dakota-truck@bent.twistedbits.net] On Behalf Of Miles D.
> Oliver
> Sent: Thursday, January 26, 2006 9:31 AM
> To: dakota-truck@dakota-truck.net
> Subject: Re: DML: Door alignment on a GEN III
>
>
> I took some time this morning to look at the wind blown door and the
> large gap.
>
> I believe I know what seems to have happened, and how to fix it. But to do
> the fix It will require either removing the door or blocking the hinge and
> forcing the door closed.
>
> My first thought was that the door pillar itself had somehow twisted and
> caused the gap. I opened the truck door and pushed the door out to the
> stop and then tried to push it farther to duplicate the same force that
> the wind took and noticed that it moves at the weaker point, not the
> pillar but the door itself. The hinge mounting area on the door itself and
> the area around it is supposed to be flat.
>
> After the wind caught the door the metal around the hinges aren't flat but
> raised and 'pulled out' because of the force exerted by the wind. The door
> itself gave, not the pillar, and there isn't any way to adjust the hinge
> itself.
>
> So, either the door has to come off, The area around the hinge pushed
> back flat with a hammer and block of wood and the door remounted. Lot of
> work, measuring . and hope to get it back aligned properly.
>
> OR
>
> I can try bracing/binding the inside of the hinge with a block of wood
> and pushing the door shut to force the raised area of the door back flat.
>
> Taking off the door will probably yeild a more successful attempt as I
> don't know if I can force the door plate back totally flat by just binding
> the hinge with a block of wood.
>
> Any thoughts or flaws that I may have missed in my logic to try and get
> the door to once again seal properly?
>
>
-- Miles D. Oliver www.mmoliver.org
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Feb 01 2006 - 20:27:16 EST