Barn doors and door questions

[mibars]

Hi again,
My barn doors are rattling, they seem to latch correctly (can be latched either on one "click" or deeper on a 2nd "click"), however after closing they have still some play, can be pushed in compressing the gasket. Those latch ears are adjusted as far in as possible while the latches in doors seem to not have adjustment. I have also a gap at the bottom of barn doors through which I can see pavement making me think that I'm missing some gasket on the opening? I have a gasket all around one door and on 3 sides of the other door, which seems to match weather stripping available online.

The other question is related to adjusting front doors: My passenger door is sagging to the point that I have significant wear on a striker, can the door be adjusted on a hinge and do I need to pull the fender off to access the bolts? I have missing striker plastic inserts I need to find an inch-sized pipe in Europe (our pipes are slightly different in size, even though people commonly refer to them as sized in inches, but they are not) or just buy the dedicated striker bushings online.

 

[mibars]

I took some pictures: that's how the barn door opening looks in my burb, you can see daylight from the inside with the doors fully closed

 

[mibars]

Tip: You can get the rattle out of the door barn by adjusting the striker with a crowbar. Bending it slightly up makes the door close without any play.
Just make sure that your striker is not pre-cracked. One of mine broke and I can see that the crack was half way through before I even started bending on it.

 

[RanchWelder]

Front doors pins and bushing kit from "HELP" isle at your parts store.
Same for your barn doors. Pins and bushings need to be serviced and re positioned often.
Bushings and pins first, then try to figure what else is wrong before posting here again.

The HELP Pins and bushings are sold as a kit with multi use bushings sizes.
You will need to buy many "kits"in order to complete your hinges repairs.

If your rig has been hit/rolled, there's nothing you can do.

New hinges or good quality used hinges would be worth your time... IMO

Adjusting your striker pin with poor or malfunctioning hinges is a losing game.

You must rebuild the bearing points, square your door frame and adjust your door trim / profile, before you adjust anything at the striker.

I added wind straps to my kick plates to doors so they do not ever stress the hinges in a heavy blow.
They look crude and work perfectly to protect my doors and hinges. I used 5/16"Tech Screws and 1" triple straps.

Sometimes you have to make a decision which is out of the norm, in order to protect your truck.
If your hinges are already bent, you need new ones. Re-alignment goes a long way for minor adjustments with wind straps and new bushings.
I pray for my hinges. I find prayer helps...

 

[mibars]

Barn doors doesn't seem to sag, I have one sagged door (front right) but that's something I'll have to look at later on. Unfortunately being in Poland means that parts are not readily available in parts stores. Actually part stores are almost nonexistent, everyone buys stuff online these days.

In the end bending the barn door strikers (that three ears, one of them broke, so now I jsut have two on the bottom) together with adding a 1-2 mm thick rubber "washers" under rubber wedges (bumpers) helped to get rid of the barn door rattle. There is still a gaping hole in the area between doors and floor that I have no clue how it supposed to be sealed as I can't find any seal or whatever that should go into that place.

Looking at LMCtruck it appears that nothing should go in that area. I have weather stripping on both doors.

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EDIT: I've just realized something: My weather stripping on left barn door seems to look different than on LMCtruck page. Do I have some aftermarket universal gasket?

 

[Lowered87]

You can make your door weather stripping tighter by using foam backing rod and silicone spray. Foam backer rod is a low cost product that comes in a large coil and is used to fill large gaps prior to chaulking. The silicone spray will make your weather strip slippery without hurting the rubber and it does not smell later on. Spray the weather strip and slide the backing rod into the hole of the weather strip. When you close your door the weather strip will collapse less causing the door to be tighter. I used 3/8 inch diameter foam rod for my F350 but my squarebody will get it as well. Type Foam backing rod into Google Images.

 

[mibars]

I glued a piece of black insulating foam to cover that hole, looks similar to that foam backing. Also got a replacement door striker from LMC.

My weather stripping is definitely not original to the truck. Actually I wonder now why my burb has no door moldings and not even holes for screws, was it possible to get plain barn doors without trim?

 

[Lowered87]

I glued a piece of black insulating foam to cover that hole, looks similar to that foam backing. Also got a replacement door striker from LMC.

My weather stripping is definitely not original to the truck. Actually I wonder now why my burb has no door moldings and not even holes for screws, was it possible to get plain barn doors without trim?

In the past you could get a squarebody without moldings. As well, 1980 was the last time most moldings were held on with screws. You can find this information in the LMC catalogs.