Barn Door Alignment?

Couldn't find anything using my Google Fu. Anyone have any tips for adjusting how the barn doors on a Suburban hang?

Got a pair of used replacements to replace our rusty doors. Kinda wishing I'd never unbolted the old rusty ones now. lol Fiddling with the hinge adjustment to try and get them to hang right is infuriating. I ended up with three pairs of hinges between the two sets of doors, and looking at them, it seems some have a slight bend (some are flat, some bent to varying degrees) in the plate that bolts to the body. Maybe I should get them close, then remove a hinge and throw it in the press to bend it a tad? That seems ridiculous, but I don't see an easier way to do it.

As an example.... LH door, wide gap to the body at the bottom, but TIGHT up top.

Girth said:

Couldn't find anything using my Google Fu. Anyone have any tips for adjusting how the barn doors on a Suburban hang?

Got a pair of used replacements to replace our rusty doors. Kinda wishing I'd never unbolted the old rusty ones now. lol Fiddling with the hinge adjustment to try and get them to hang right is infuriating. I ended up with three pairs of hinges between the two sets of doors, and looking at them, it seems some have a slight bend (some are flat, some bent to varying degrees) in the plate that bolts to the body. Maybe I should get them close, then remove a hinge and throw it in the press to bend it a tad? That seems ridiculous, but I don't see an easier way to do it.

As an example.... LH door, wide gap to the body at the bottom, but TIGHT up top.

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I’ve never messed with barn doors on any gen burb, but have always heard how people don’t like them (not sure why, maybe this is why?).
It’s very reasonable they could be tweaked or bent, or need to be bent to align. Assuming you can use body shims maybe to open the tight gap.
Did you use the hinges off the original doors if those had good gaps and closed ok?
I’m mostly spitballing.

Is the gap even across the top? Hopefully not.

bucket said:

Is the gap even across the top? Hopefully not.

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On the LH door, sorta. Pretty close. If I could get the top of that door to come towards the center even 1/16th, it'd be golden. RH door, it's so far out, I gotta start from scratch. Sitting WAY low. Seems like tiny adjustments, where you can't tell if it even moved while you're holding the door (watching my wife struggle with the ratchet lol), make BIG changes.

Grit dog said:

I’ve never messed with barn doors on any gen burb, but have always heard how people don’t like them (not sure why, maybe this is why?).
It’s very reasonable they could be tweaked or bent, or need to be bent to align. Assuming you can use body shims maybe to open the tight gap.
Did you use the hinges off the original doors if those had good gaps and closed ok?
I’m mostly spitballing.

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There's really not a great way to shim them, as the hinges fit through slots in the body and there just isn't much room to move them like that. Getting shims in there would be a nightmare too.

Bending them, well it's at least 1/4in thick steel strap. Doable.... but dang.

I ended up with 3 pairs of hinges. The "new" doors still had them on one door. We were playing musical hinges for a bit, trying different combos to get the doors to fit better. That's actually where the "bend them" idea came from, as I noticed some had a slight bend to the flat that bolts to the body, and others did not.

Probably a bad sign that I couldn't find anything discussing this on a forum search. Ugh. There's a service manual around here somewhere, if I can find it. Maybe it'll have some insight.

Well, it took a bit more fiddling, but I got them fitted OK. No better or worse than any other OEM panel fitment on these trucks. lol

I really think to get them PERFECT, or close to it, you'd need to bend the hinges. Luckily, since I had spare hinges, a bit more of the musical hinge game got the LH door to fit much better. A bit of fiddling with the hinges on the RH door, and it at least lines up with the Left door decently.

Good enough for now. It's really messing with my OCD, having the pins going different directions left to right, but unavoidable at the moment. Those pins aren't moving, so should be fine.

The short answer.... having extra hinges around makes it easier.

Looks pretty decent from here. I didn't realize that the hinges would swap from left to right. It makes sense, I just didn't realize it.

Are you going to reinstall the plastic panel grommets? That will suck having to go through that adjustment process again, lol.

bucket said:

Looks pretty decent from here. I didn't realize that the hinges would swap from left to right. It makes sense, I just didn't realize it.

Are you going to reinstall the plastic panel grommets? That will suck having to go through that adjustment process again, lol.

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They make plastic panel grommets for these? Mine never had any since I've owned the truck and I always worry about water incursion/rust as a result? I didn't know they existed....

bucket said:

Looks pretty decent from here. I didn't realize that the hinges would swap from left to right. It makes sense, I just didn't realize it.

Are you going to reinstall the plastic panel grommets? That will suck having to go through that adjustment process again, lol.

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lol yes, I am. Them and a whole mess of new gaskets, hardware and bits and pieces are on a list I’ve been compiling for an LMC order.

I figure I’ll put those grommets on after it’s painted. Painting around new grommets seemed silly. Very Fine tip sharpie to mark the bolt locations on the hinges, and they SHOULD go back on easily enough. Should. lol If you’re careful, especially if you have a helper support the door, it’s possible to pull one hinge at a time, which is probably what I’ll do.

I’m replacing the strikers, bumpers and weatherstripping too, so more adjustment might be needed later.

YakkoWarner said:

They make plastic panel grommets for these? Mine never had any since I've owned the truck and I always worry about water incursion/rust as a result? I didn't know they existed....

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My old '90 had them. I just went and looked at old pictures on our Flickr account to verify. Looks like I was missing one of the grommets. Also, they evidently split at the bottom for ease of install. For some reason I'm not able to download my pictures to my phone.

YakkoWarner said:

They make plastic panel grommets for these? Mine never had any since I've owned the truck and I always worry about water incursion/rust as a result? I didn't know they existed....

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They’re in the LMC catalog for 73-91 Burbs, under Rear Cargo Door Rubber Components. Item 9 on the diagram google just pulled up. $4.10 each.

I figure after the paint is cured I’ll install and seal them to the door. 3/4 of my old ones were gone, and the last was split and barely holding on. lol

Girth said:

They’re in the LMC catalog for 73-91 Burbs, under Rear Cargo Door Rubber Components. Item 9 on the diagram google just pulled up. $4.10 each.

I figure after the paint is cured I’ll install and seal them to the door. 3/4 of my old ones were gone, and the last was split and barely holding on. lol

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Do you think they are actually supposed to be split? It's been a while since I've been up close to a barn door Burb.

bucket said:

Do you think they are actually supposed to be split? It's been a while since I've been up close to a barn door Burb.

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NO idea. That would make them easier to put on, but feel like it'd kinda defeat the purpose? I guess if you seal them on either way, no big deal.

We'll see what LMC ships me.