brianjosephgrover

Hey all,

I am replacing the weather stripping on the driver and passenger doors. After putting in the new stripping (crown automotive 55015782) on the passenger door I am still seeing a small gap at the top. Can anyone give me any help on how to solve this? Is the door misaligned? Is there a procedure to make sure it’s aligned properly? The attached photo is at the top of the front passenger. It’s hard to see, but that gap makes a fair amount of noise while driving.

My XJ is an 87 4.0 Pioneer. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

dmoe69

Could you provide a photo of the door closed from the outside so we can see the alignment of the door to the body?

brianjosephgrover

Sure thing. Here are a couple photos. It looks good to me, but this is my first jeep and I’m not sure if I’m missing something obvious.

dmoe69

Well, you're not going to get that door much more perfectly aligned. It looks like the weather strip is slightly collapsed at that point, maybe from packaging/shipping. It may expand out after a bit, especially after it gets warm. A little heat, like from a heat gun might help convince it to conform. If all else fails, it can be sliced on the back side just enough to slide something inside to help it hold its shape, but I'd wait and see if it will relax and fill the gap first.

brianjosephgrover

I’ll try and add some heat to it to see if it changes shape at all. The old weather stripping had the same gap and that’s why I was changing it out. The old stripping looked smashed though so I figured it would be fine with some new stuff. I thought about just adding a bit of something on the door side to close the gap, but wanted to check with the community first to see if there was something I was missing. Thanks @dmoe69 for the help.

tech

I would take a look at what holds the weather strip and see if that can be moved to get it to seal .

brianjosephgrover

I tried to move the strip down when I had the trim off and it closed the gap quite a bit. But once I put the trim back on it pushed the stripping back up.

dmoe69

Is it possible the metal ridge that the hard side of the weatherstripping fastens too is bent away from the door at that location? It seems odd that your original stripping had a gap there. Mine if flattened in other locations where the window frame and door have been pressing against it for years, but not there.

Sirsyc0

Looks like it has body damage

dmoe69

Wow, good eye. So the door could be bent, the upper part of the cab could be bent at the attachment ridge, or both. For your reference, not saying mine is perfect, here are two photos with a straight edge against the window frame. I don't think I would try stuffing anything inside the weatherstrip. I would try something above it at the defect to try and force it to balloon outward slightly.

brianjosephgrover

Well crap, good eye. I didn’t even notice that. I only got the Jeep a few months ago with almost zero history so I’m trying to get it back to good clean shape. I’ll check the straightness of the door and the frame tomorrow. Also, see what I could do about putting something under the strip to push it up.

I really appreciate you all taking the time to help out.

Knucklebuster

Check for play in the upper hinge. Open the door about 6" and pull up on the back bottom of the door. There should be no play.

Saudade

The top of the door does flex outward a bit when closed on a tight seal. Enough times and it will "set". A "fix" has been to use a 2x4 to bend the top of the window frame inwards to seal it better. Looks like a previous owner may have done that and damaged that area.

brianjosephgrover

I really appreciate all the input on this.

I think that the “damage” that was showing in those photos was a trick of the light. I took some more photos (with the straight edge like you did dmoe69) and it looks like the door is pretty straight at the top. I’m should be able to get into taking the trim off again soon to check about that little ridge that holds the stripping being bent inward.

I also checked to see if there was play in the hinges like knucklebuster Mentioned. It feels like there is a tiny bit of play, but not with the mounting screws for the hinges. They feel like they move slightly as if the hinge pin has gotten warn out over time. Is it possible to replace just the hinge pins without removing the mounting plates?

I don’t know how to embed a youtube video on here, but here are links to the videos of me wiggling the door.

brianjosephgrover

Saudade, I’m curious what that process is, just in case I need to go that route.