Years ago, I discovered a problem with the doors on my 59 truck. Where
the bottom hinge attatches to the door, there is no reinforcement (as
there is on the top hinge). The sheet metal where the nuts are welded,
behind the hinge, tends to crack and let the hinge flop around in the
door. To test this, open the door about half way, then try to move the
bottom front of the door in and out...if it flexes, then the attatching
point is cracked and needs to be repaired.
I made a sheet metal reinforcement that fits over the hinge, welded to
the door, with holes for the hinge attatching bolts to go thru. This
makes the bottom hinge attatchment work like the top hinge attatchment.
It's hard to explain, but if you look at how the top hinge is held in
place in the door, you should be able to figure out how to duplicate it
on the bottom hinge.
I made this repair 20 years ago, and have not had any trouble from the
drivers door on my 59 since!
Also, check to see that all 3 bolts and captive nuts are in place, and
have solid metal holding them, where the hinges attach to the cab. This
is a rust prone area, especially the "hidden" bolt hole that's way back
in the hinge pocket. If the bolts are not all there, or the hinge
pocket is rusted away, then you will never get the door adjusted right,
because you'll be fighting a moving target!
As for adjusting the door to get it to fit right, you need to rebuild
the hinges first; having fresh bushings, and pins (if needed) will help
a lot. You might also have to elongate some adjusting slots, or do some
serious bending of the door opening in the cab with a porta power, or
even take more drastic action like cutting and welding to get the fit
just right. I've noticed that the drivers doors usually can be made to
fit better than the passenger doors, because of the way the cab
stampings were made.
Jim F
59s in AZ
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