I have a 98 Cummins (sig should be working now though)...

My Drivers door is sagging some and I see there is a crack forming by the latch on the door itself. There doesn't seem to be much play in the pins but it is still sagging..

I have reefed up a bit on the end of the door but it doesn't seem to help much..

Any tips for me? I'd appreciate it.

Garrett

 

Are you in the habit of shutting the truck down while the door is open? With our high compression engines, when you either crank the truck or shut it down it gives the truck quite a jolt. Swinging the door around by the hinges shortens their life big time.

I have heard the only solution is to replace the hinges.

 

I'm not in the habit of doing it.. Though the previous owners may have.. Truck has 175k!

Any source/part number for hinges?

 

If the door metal is cracking then that will have to be taken care of first. The hinge itself may be OK but what it bolts to is failing is what it sounds like. The fatigued door metal will continue to split unless it is fixed regardless of whether the hinge is sloppy.

This happens on ScoutII back windows alot - the hinge bolts to a threaded plate inside the window frame and the weight eventually stresses the sheetmetal around the edge of the plate to the point it starts tearing. The only way to fix it is to drill the edges of the crack to stop the stress fracture propagation and then carefully MIG the crack closed and grind it smooth so the hinge mates back to a flat surface.

Unfortunately the door will have to come off to fix the crack. A really good sheet metal welder would be my choice for fixing the cracked metal - not all body men are capable of that kind of metal repair.

 

Reread original post - I was thinking hinge side but it is latch side. That is indicative of the latch having too much weight bearing on it and stressing the metal around it to the point of failure. Same principle applies as above but there is something causing the latch to have to hold too much weight to begin with for this to be happening.

If the door hits the latch and rides up to proper height/fit as it contacts the latch then the door needs adjusting first. The latch is not designed to be a vertical load-bearing component, just a horizontal mechanical keeper, so any weight bearing on the latch needs to be addressed. Maybe the cab has been tweaked by a previous collision or the frame is twisted slightly and the cab is flexing causing the doors to be slightly misaligned. It all has to fit together properly for it to work like it is supposed to and not cause premature wear.

Good luck getting it straightened out.

 

http://www.auveco.com/hni/hni-138wb.pdf here is a repair kit

 

http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/P...+10205/c-10105 another site.