doors hard to open (93)

[defecater]

This is getting frustrating- When I bought this truck the previous owner told me the door handles had a bad problem with breaking off- I figured it just needed some lube in the latch- not the case. The drivers side is much worse than the passenger side, and I have broken two handles off so far and am now to the point of running with the door panel off so I can use a pair of vise grips as my handle. Then the last two times I used the truck, the drivers door did not want to latch when closing the door. It is hard to see in there to try and diagnose the issue. Any helpful tips??

 

[timothyr1014]

I had a simlar problem on one of mine a while back, the door was just slightly out of alignment sitting a little low...messing with the hinges solved it

 

[Shadetreemechanic]

check the bushings in the lower door hinge. They wear and then the door won't close well. I just replaced mine last week and it shuts like a brand new truck.

 

[towcat]

part of the problem is the 92-97 doors went to cable operation on the door handle. it becomes a bear to open when the cable is worn out. the door mechanisms are completely different animals between the cable type vs. the rod type. I converted my driver's door to the rod type. afterwards, I found that doorman makes the cable and sells at $15.00 if you went to the stealership, they won't sell you the cable by itself, they will be more than happy to sell you the entire assy for $125. That was motivation enough for me to convert.

 

[dave186]

you can get that cable at any Napa, and its most likely your culprit. Just changed one on my truck.

 

[defecater]

This morning when I went to take my daughter up to the bus stop, the door would not latch shut no matter what I did. By the time I got back home, it was light enough that when I took another look at things, it was plainly obvious that the cable had stretched- I would assume that whatever is causing the latch mechanism to not function smoothly has caused the cable to stretch due to too much force being applied to it. Later this afternoon I went up in the field to my parts trucks and snagged an 85 door to hopefully swap the entire mechanism over to the older rod style linkages.

Towcat- good to hear that it is possible to swap to the older stuff. Is it a pretty straightforward swap, or are there any pitfalls that I should know about?? I assume I should be able to keep my existing door lock??

Cant do the actual work untill it warms up here so I can use my bare hands outside- till then I guess I use a bungie cord to hold the door shut when I need to use the truck.

 

[towcat]

the three philips screws that hold the latch onto the door can be a son of a *****.

 

[dave186]

The cable is most likely bound up and holding the latch open. Take some ***** to it.