Tired of Slamming Doors

[Cliff]

I installed new BJ's door jamb gaskets on my 77 Cherokee three years ago. I expected them to be tight for a little while but three years later I still have trouble closing my doors. Alignment is good although I have made several adjustments in an effort to fix the problem but the rubber just seems to be too thick. I have tried sunlight, protectant, hot air, etc. I even rebuilt the hinges on one side to see if there was any improvement but no success. The door metal is not making contact on the jamb anywhere. Sill plates are flush and tight.

Any ideas?

[MysticRob]

Remove some material from the rubber.
Some people drill small holes where it won't be seen, others use soldering irons, etc. Either way, sounds like you need to remove some rubber somewhere to decrease the amount of push back against the door.

[SJTD]

I've read, here I think, that there was a change at some point in the thickness of the seals and BJ's seals fit the later models. Edit: Or maybe it was the location of the mating or mounting surfaces?

Maybe you can search up the thread.

This is a topic I keep my eye on since I'll be needing the seals soon. You'd think I'd save those threads for that reason.

[jon.westfall]

I put a BJ's door seal on one door of my 71 Wagoneer and found it pretty tight. For $50 dollars I purchased some similar door seal from Amazon, only it is 1/2" bulb instead of 5/8" and it is still a little tight but better, but I did the other three door for a lot cheaper. You can order a 15' length for $20 and experiment. Corners don't look as clean though. On mine the tight spot was on the door right where the latch and handle are because the door flares out just little.

[Crankyolman]

I put them on my '72 and when I got tired of slamming the doors I took them off and slowly installed them while closing the door and found that when it got to somewhere around even with the latch plate it required the slamming to close. My solution was to take a crescent wrench and gently bend about 4 inches of the flange away from the door until the seal made the correct amount of contact and now it closes fine.

[Cliff]

Crank - your idea worked! I looked at drilling and removing rubber but your suggestion seemed simpler. Thanks for all of the replies!

[Mikel]

Originally Posted by jon.westfall

I put a BJ's door seal on one door of my 71 Wagoneer and found it pretty tight. For $50 dollars I purchased some similar door seal from Amazon, only it is 1/2" bulb instead of 5/8" and it is still a little tight but better, but I did the other three door for a lot cheaper. You can order a 15' length for $20 and experiment. Corners don't look as clean though. On mine the tight spot was on the door right where the latch and handle are because the door flares out just little.

Hi - Got a part number on the Amazon seal? Thanks.

[jon.westfall]

I used this one:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...0?ie=UTF8&th=1
Bending the pinch weld near the latch as mentioned earlier helps a lot as well.

[Crankyolman]

Originally Posted by Cliff

Crank - your idea worked! I looked at drilling and removing rubber but your suggestion seemed simpler. Thanks for all of the replies!

Glad I could help

[threepiece]

Originally Posted by Crankyolman

. My solution was to take a crescent wrench and gently bend about 4 inches of the flange away from the door until the seal made the correct amount of contact and now it closes fine.

Adjusting the pinch flange that the seal is attached to is standard procedure at the factory where the Jeep was built. However a hammer and a wood or plastic block are used instead of an adjustable wrench. By the way any brand of adjustable wrench will work as good as the Crescent brand. I am particularly fond of Utica brand adjustable wrenches. The fit on the moving parts seem superior to all others.

I have a similar opinion about Allen brand of hex key wrenches. So many consider them the go to hex key wrench but I have found the Unbrako hex keys as good or better than Allen

By the way, has anyone noticed the advertisement at the top of this page recently? This was promoting a sight where one could find price value for used Jeeps, associated with the add was a picture of a Land Rover.

[SJTD]

How come I get the feeling you have a thing about using Manufacturer's names as generic?

[Crankyolman]

I believe the "Crescent" wrench I used was actually manufactured by Diamond Tool and Horseshoe company but I have a number of them manufactured by various companies only one of which is Crescent. I also have a number of "Ford" wrenches only one of which has the name Ford on it. I also have one of these



Railroad wrench sometimes called a Monkey wrench.


I'm sure any one of these "adjustable" wrenches could have done the job

[threepiece]

Originally Posted by SJTD

How come I get the feeling you have a thing about using Manufacturer's names as generic?

When one collects things he begins to develop a passion for them. If you ask me for a Channellock when in my shop I may hand over a hammer. (Yes, I have hammers made by Channellock)

[SJTD]

I know what you mean. People referring to polyurethane as "polly" and aluminum as "alloy" annoy me.

Then there's people calling gun stocks "furniture". Even in gun magazines where they should know better.

[rang-a-stang]

'scribing. I have the same seals, and same slamming issues...

[Mikel]

Originally Posted by jon.westfall

I used this one:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...0?ie=UTF8&th=1
Bending the pinch weld near the latch as mentioned earlier helps a lot as well.

Thanks!

[inkedmonkey]

I just gave this a shot with my BJs seal. It worked great. Just had to bend the door flange back to allow the thicker seal to fit. No more slamming!

[rang-a-stang]

Originally Posted by threepiece

... By the way any brand of adjustable wrench will work as good as the Crescent brand. I am particularly fond of Utica brand adjustable wrenches. ...

I have a similar opinion about Allen brand of hex key wrenches. So many consider them the go to hex key wrench but I have found the Unbrako hex keys as good or better than Allen
...

Originally Posted by SJTD

How come I get the feeling you have a thing about using Manufacturer's names as generic?

100% True Story:
In the late 90's when I was in the Navy, I asked one of my junior techs to go grab me a "crescent wrench". He came back with a set of Crescent Brand hex wrenches. I am not the type of person that would go off a newbie so I sat there for a second staring blankly at the wrench set and said "oh, um... could you grab me an allen wrench?" and he came back with an Allen brand adjustable wrench.

I was dumbfounded that:
a) our tool kit actually had a Crescent brand allen wrench set AND an Allen brand Crescent wrench.
b) my tech made it through about 21 years of life including 14 years of education in New Jersey, bootcamp, and about 2 years of Navy training on electronics, Radars, missile and gun control systems yet he did not know "Crescent wrench" generally means "adjustable wrench" and "allen wrench" generally means hex wrenches.

I couldn't even be a little annoyed since he grabbed me EXACTLY what I asked but we had a 15 second training period and laughed about it together.

[Crankyolman]

Originally Posted by rang-a-stang

100% True Story:
In the late 90's when I was in the Navy, I asked one of my junior techs to go grab me a "crescent wrench". He came back with a set of Crescent Brand hex wrenches. I am not the type of person that would go off a newbie so I sat there for a second staring blankly at the wrench set and said "oh, um... could you grab me an allen wrench?" and he came back with an Allen brand adjustable wrench.

I was dumbfounded that:
a) our tool kit actually had a Crescent brand allen wrench set AND an Allen brand Crescent wrench.
b) my tech made it through about 21 years of life including 14 years of education in New Jersey, bootcamp, and about 2 years of Navy training on electronics, Radars, missile and gun control systems yet he did not know "Crescent wrench" generally means "adjustable wrench" and "allen wrench" generally means hex wrenches.

I couldn't even be a little annoyed since he grabbed me EXACTLY what I asked but we had a 15 second training period and laughed about it together.

I've gone through that sort of thing with a Korean and other people who didn't grow up speaking English. The Korean has no idea what a crescent wrench is, to him it's a "monkey wrench", even though to me a "monkey wrench" is the one pictured above.


and one time I was directing a group of 6 people during a delicate operation and discovered that the Iraqi born person didn't stop when I told him to "hold up" because he didn't know what it meant.

[SJTD]

I'd have said he was messing with you like threepiece proposed but I guess not.