Door alignment closing issue

Hi guys

I'm coming to the end of a slight refurbishment of my defender 90 including door skins and body repair.

I'm having an issue with the drivers door after refitting. It's sitting too low so the radius half way up the door isn't in line with the tub. And I've ran out of adjustment on the bulkhead side of the hinges.
A related issue is despite fitting a brand new genuine land rover latch, and new genuine door seals. The drivers side won't shut unless it's slammed!

Now I had this problem with it when I bought it before the refurbishment of the doors, which prompted me to buy a new latch thinking that was the issue. Passenger side is perfect!
I'm familiar with how to adjust the strikers etc. Although it is an aftermarket striker.

Are there any tips or tricks to get round this? I know it's an old tractor but slamming the door is really annoying. Especially when the other side is near perfect with the same processes.

Any ideas? Thanks all

Strange that I have exactly the same problem regarding having to slam the driver's door hard to close it. Both doors had been off. New seals [Bearmach]. I fitted the later lower seals that wrapped round up the sided. Passenger door closes beautifully. Driver's a bitch. Alignment is good. I'm pretty sure it's the bottom seal and might need "adjustment" but I don't have time to mess about with it yet. I'll carry on slamming and hope it will bed in over time.

Have you lubed up the door mechs they are really tight when new, I had issues with mine when
I rebuilt it, iirc I drilled out the striker or ground a bit off it to sit a few mm out towards the door & it shut perfectly with no slamming, remove the seal & sit inside an see whats going on when your closing the door. Tis a pita ive got to the same with my new project ordered hinges ect parcel turned up with half
the contents missing but the drivers door is knackered tbh so im on the look out for one.

Good luck pal

Have you watched parts 1&2 of this?

You do need to set the B pillar to bulkhead distance to 34 3/4" - anything less and the doors will not fit, clash with the door striker plates and not have enough diagonal/lateral for/aft movement from pillar and door hinge mounts. The trick is to...

1. set up bulkhead to B pillar distance
2. fit and align doors before fitting striker plate, nor door rubber
3. fit striker plate and align
4. fit door rubber - here you'll the door will need small adjustment - this is often most prevalent at door tops where rubbers don't compress at corners [especially non G grade rubbers]

+ the if the sill rubbers are new/sitting too high they can force out the door bottoms and may need a tweak via the door sills

I haven't watched those videos, but if you've ran out of adjustment on hinges then you'll have to go to bulkhead- outrigger bolt and the support plate between the bulkhead and chassis rail inside engine bay. If it was doing it before your door refurb it sounds like these two haven't been set up properly in the first place.

Al2O3 said:

I haven't watched those videos, but if you've ran out of adjustment on hinges then you'll have to go to bulkhead- outrigger bolt and the support plate between the bulkhead and chassis rail inside engine bay. If it was doing it before your door refurb it sounds like these two haven't been set up properly in the first place.

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+1 what @AI203 said

Thanks everyone for your help.

I will oil the latch as you suggest that may help. Regarding the alignment, it sounds like it's the bulkhead or tub after watching the videos.

I will measure everything up this evening. But as the door gaps seem to be okay it can't be far out. Passenger side is near perfect, so could it still be the case the bulkhead is out of alignment?

As the door appears to be dropping on the latch side and I have ran out of movement to rotate the door clockwise. Am I right in saying the top of the bulkhead needs pulling towards the front of the car in order to lift the latch side of the door? I'm only a few millimeters low on latch side.
If so can this be done with everything bolted down including the roof, wings etc

Sorry its long winded. Cheers guys

ONE LIFE LIVE IT. D90 said:

Am I right in saying the top of the bulkhead needs pulling towards the front of the car in order to lift the latch side of the door? I'm only a few millimeters low on latch side.
If so can this be done with everything bolted down including the roof, wings etc

Sorry its long winded. Cheers guys

Click to expand...

The bulkhead to B pillar 34 3/4" needs to be parallel at both bottom and waist line. If not, undo front wing bolts, wing to chassis bolts, wing to footwell bolts and finally the bulkhead to outrigger bolts - this give max flex/movement before undoing the bottom bulkhead bolt. + it's really worth slackening off the sill bolts front and rear. Once bolts are undone, give the wing a really good "shake" to ensure no pinch points.

Then set up bulkhead gap - use two pieces of wood between a scissor jack, wind out to 34 3/4" + 5mm as the bulkhead will naturally want to flex back. Once set, keep scissor jack in place and re-tighten in the following order

1. bulkhead bolt
2. sills [correctly setting sills so outer edge an rubber will not foul door bottom] + [sill horizontal needs to be perpendicular to B pillar]
3. wing front bolts and align
4. wing rear bolts and align
5. recheck pts 3&4, tweak where needed
6. bulkhead to outrigger

It's a long winded process but really worth doing...if it's any support, I need to re-do my drivers side

....and don't forget the bulkhead to chassis rail bracket. The bulkhead won't tilt unless you loosen it.

@ONE LIFE LIVE IT. D90 Just thinking, mate. If you decide to do it (I would) if you need to widen the gap at the bottom of your door, then lube up the end of the bulkhead to outrigger bolt with penetrating fluid and oil. Loosen the nut and makes sure the nut is free to end of the bolt. Then, get a jack and put it under the bulkhead end. ie under the A pillar. Jack it up to take the weight of the bulkhead et. al. You can then withdraw the bolt and add another washer if necessary. Sounds like a load of hassle, but it's not really. You will have needed to loosen the inner sill, at least, to do this. I would loosen the wing to A pillar bolts too. Now I can't remember if you can access them with the inner wheel arch in place. I can remember that you need a long extension on your socket wrench and UV joint to the socket in order to reach the top ones. You will probably just need to loosen them off a turn or two to allow the wing to move a few mm up the A pillar. This should create all the movement you need to get your door to shut properly. Sounds like a PITA, but not that bad. Unless you need to take the inner wing out

Thanks AL203. Really appreciate your in depth help.

I'll be honest I'm absolutely dreading this job, especially as I've just undersealed haha.

So just to double check, I've hopefully attached a photo. Passenger side perfect. Measurements are fine too.

Thanks everyone

ONE LIFE LIVE IT. D90 said:

Thanks AL203. Really appreciate your in depth help.

I'll be honest I'm absolutely dreading this job, especially as I've just undersealed haha.

So just to double check, I've hopefully attached a photo. Passenger side perfect. Measurements are fine too.

Thanks everyone

Click to expand...

A lot of these things sound worse than they are when you actually get down to them. Unbolting things I mean. It's hard to tell from pictures, but yours looks like it's just a nads out, which is a real shame That said, it might mean it'll not take much fettling. So, thinking out loud - as a triangulation piece the bulkhead to chassis rail bracket certainly holds your bulkhead solid. To move the angle of the bulkhead a smidge you'll have to loosen it (This is easy). If the gap at the bottom of the door, along the sill rail, is ok, then you would probably get away with just loosening the bulkhead to outrigger bolt a turn or two to help with any minor angle adjustment. There are a few other things holding the bulkhead though - the roof, the wing, the sill, floor plates etc.
Now then, a mm or two at roof height may be all that's needed. This will translate to next to no movement at sill, floor plate and bulkhead/outrigger bolt level. However, the more bits loosened off the easier to get the required movement. That said, my first attempt would involve loosening the bulkhead to chassis bracket. Then getting on a pair of step ladders at the back and giving it a gentle shove at roof height. You never know, it might be all that's needed. Or, reverse your Landy near to the house so you can put a piece of timber between the building and the roof top, with a wooden wedge at the building end. Gently tap the wedge and try the door. If it starts closing it's time to nip up the bulkhead to chassis bracket.
Just trying to think outside the box mate.
If it's just a smidge out, it may not take much.
I suppose the alternative is to drill or file out the location of the door latch on the B pillar to adjust things there?

ONE LIFE LIVE IT. D90 said:

Thanks AL203. Really appreciate your in depth help.

I'll be honest I'm absolutely dreading this job, especially as I've just undersealed haha.

So just to double check, I've hopefully attached a photo. Passenger side perfect. Measurements are fine too.

Thanks everyone

Click to expand...

That's a great door fit