Door shutting issues.

Hey folks,

About a month ago I replaced door gaskets on Sheppard (that's what I've decided to name my truck). Since then I've been battling my doors to get them to shut and seal correctly. This weekend I'm going to change out my front fenders and while they are off, I want to fix the doors once and for all! I will present each door separately then open it up for advice. I'm desperate.

The driver's side door shuts like a dream and seals everywhere but the top middle of the window frame. I can see air through it.

The passenger side seals but is nearly impossible to shut. My kids can't shut it and I struggle too. I have to slam it so hard, the mirror falls down out of place.

I have tried adjusting my strikers and adjusting the doors elevation at the hinges. I've even taken a long 2x4 and used it to try to pry/bent the window frames to get them to seal/shut better.

Next, I'm going to mess with the overall vertical height of the door in hopes that it will help. At first I was most concerned with nice lines and seams but at this point, I don't care. I just want it to be usable.

Am I missing something? Any other thoughts or things to try?

I'm NO expert but one piece of advice that helped me a lot was to do an initial round of adjustments with the strikers removed. When you close the door, the striker is a strong attachment point - it can "pull" the door a bit up or down (or in or out). That's good for daily use, but not while you're adjusting the hinges. Get your door perfectly aligned re: the gap all around, then reinstall the striker to adjust the closing "depth."

Have you replaced the hinge pins? If they're worn you'll never get it aligned right...

Update. Removing the fender was a pain in the neck! Now on to the door. I'll try removing the striker entirely.i have replaced the pins.

You say it was a pain to remove the fenders, in what way?

All the screws on the underside of the wheel well were rusted and seized. I had to grind the the heads of them off to remove them. I got the passenger door shutting pretty well. Hopefully that will be the last time I have to mess with it.

is your flange for the weatherstrip distorted ? The flange on my truck was actually pushed in on the top where someone pried the door either to fish a hookor attempted to steal, hard to say, but it bent my door at thetop away from the truckand also pushed the flange inward, so the seal sat far away. and the upper extra door mounted seal wasnt where it should be i think.  WIth that said, some bending and rubber mallet and tape on the flange has it sealing now

That's a good idea. I never considered checking/slightly bending the gasket fitting. I'll try that for minor changes.

Do you have foam backer road slipped into your strip? if you could fish some fishing line or strong throughyour strip,then pull a length of backer rod that would span the upper part of your  door , then fish it into it with silicone lube or soapy water, you could artifically "bulk up" the strip.  I would only do this to an old one, a new one that doesnt span the gap means the flange should be.  Your truck trim may work different to, but the trim in my 96 is supposed to nicely "trim" the weather strip around the perimeter, if yours did too, you could tell if your trim only does it in places if it needs to be moved or not