Put new seals in, can't shut doors.

[deltabronco]

So I put new door seals in and now I can't shut the doors. I'm running a soft top so Imuch not concerned with semi air tight environment. Is there a generic seal that is smaller?

 

[jray]

Can't shut the doors at all? Usually they will compress and get better with time. When I changed mine, the doors were harder to close but now I don't think anything about it.

 

[Brent13]

I did mine a few months back, got lucky maybe, my doors do shut, albeit have to slam the piss out of them. I will say they do not work in over time, mine have not softened up. I have read there are better brands out there. I did Toms, and heard they are not the greatest, but worked well enough for me.

 

[blubuckaroo]

Join the club. I've got to slam the doors too. Slamming the doors will wreck the window tracks over time.
I've tried two different brands of door seals. Neither worked right. One was even the Dennis Carpenter brand.
The ones I have now work better after a bit of trimming in the tightest spots.

 

[deltabronco]

Can't shut the doors at all? Usually they will compress and get better with time. When I changed mine, the doors were harder to close but now I don't think anything about it.

I have to force it to even latch. This is unsat as far as I'm concerned. Ill rig some up before I force it.

 

[bronconut73]

Metro soft seals are supposed to be tooling up for another run.
Softest you can get..

We are hearing good things about Delconick here on CB too.

 

[1971lubr]

Metro soft seals are supposed to be tooling up for another run.
Softest you can get..

We are hearing good things about Delconick here on CB too.

I just checked their site (metro) and they show available. I need a set as well. I ripped out the ones I got from jbg because the door wouldn't shut.

 

[bronconut73]

I just checked their site (metro) and they show available. I need a set as well. I ripped out the ones I got from jbg because the door wouldn't shut.

Haven't looked yet myself...... but it was rumored that they would raise their prices after bringing them back....

 

[Slowleak]

I just checked their site (metro) and they show available. I need a set as well. I ripped out the ones I got from jbg because the door wouldn't shut.

I would be very cautious about buying the Metro Seals at this point. They used to be great seals but the new ones are not even close to a correct fit. I expect that have pulled them from production again. I returned mine and the production manager will not return my calls.

http://classicbroncos.com/forums/showthread.php?t=270957

http://classicbroncos.com/forums/showthread.php?t=270436

 

[andyp]

No, there is no current available door seal that is smaller and works correctly.

All the current door seals suck in my opinion. The basic problem is the rubber. They make the new seals to "OEM" specs or size. The problem is the type of rubber. The originals were a different type of rubber that molded to the door when closed. The new rubber does not mold for most part. Even if it's soft it still puts to much pressure pushing out to let the latch close properly.
The only way to make these seals work is to start trimming. It looks crappy but it's the only way using the current crop of seals.
I've had to fix my window twice from slamming the door. Working on a solution as many have before. I'm past the point of caring much how it looks, I just want it to close and seal as it should.

 

[deltabronco]

Thought of using a nice weatherstrI ping in the meantime. I had to do that with the windsheild frame seal.

 

[Phil76]

Might pick up a can of this stuff http://www.autogeek.net/wuruca.html I used to sell for Wurth. Fantastic stuff for renewing/ softening rubber seals. And it's silicone free so it won't deteriorate the rubber over time, and won't mess with paint jobs.

 

[andyp]

Thought of using a nice weatherstrI ping in the meantime. I had to do that with the windsheild frame seal.

I think that's the only way for now. I've tried a couple different ones and have two more styles on order. We'll see what happens.

 

[Justin@WH4x4]

You may want to check the upper block style pieces at the top of the seals. On some seals, these pieces are larger, preventing the door from closing easily. If you notice that this is your problem, try trimming the blocks a little bit off at a time, mainly on the back by the striker, and it should help out.

 

[Rox Crusher]

I recently bought a set of lower door seals and was going to have them installed.

The Bronco shop strongly advised against replacing them as my originals are in such great shape.

Even the originals have their drawbacks........in the summer the doors shut no problem..........in the winter they harden up and I have to slam the doors hard to get them to shut.

 

[DirtDonk]

Yeah, and by now most of them are all split and falling apart. Glad yours are still usable at least.
And anyone installing a new set would be well advised to just trial fit them before going to all the trouble gluing them in only to find out they fit like crap.
The door gaps are just too tight in some areas and the new stuff just won't compress enough. But if you can gently close the door until it meets resistance and it's nowhere near the latch, it's likely your leading edge block up near the windshield frame. That gap is super tight, and the molded rubber has a metal or heavy plastic (depending on the manufacturer) inside it for support. Big problems in this area.

The door gap along the floor and up the back is tight as well. However if you can get it to easily close until the point it hits the large rear block near the top you're doing much better than most! If so, you should be able to move or trim that piece a little easier than you can the rest of the seal.

We do have a pretty hassle-free return guarantee on ours for all these reasons. We have a good distributor, but even they're not 100% perfect all the time. Much better than the ones we used in the past, but either they use multiple sources or the consistency of these things is just hard to keep.

All the main manufacturers of this stuff get it wrong at least some of the time, so it's apparently an inexact science to this day.

Good luck to everyone tackling this, now and in the future.
In the meantime we'll keep working on it. It's one of the big pet-peeves of the time right now.
Be good to fix it once and for all.

Paul

 

[Slowleak]

On the last set I did, I had to remove the clips at the bottom, trim off the flap of rubber they went thru, and just glue the seal on. That helped a lot.

 

[phred]

What slow leak said and adjust the striker bolt out as far as possible. Yeah it makes the resr gap a little larger but it saves the window frame. After a few months the rubber seems to get better and you. An move the striker bolt in some to close up the gap.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[1971lubr]

Interesting. I guess I'll try Cutting the inner flap out of the jbg seals and see if it helps. If not, i might just do weather strip foam to stop the rattling. I'm permanently topless, so no need to seal out cold air for me.

 

[Greg_B]

I must have got lucky... I installed the WH seals a few years ago and it did tighten up both doors but for the better. They shut solid without a lot of effort.

I also installed a backer on the door panels to better seal off the air which made shutting the door sound solid too... it doesn't "ring" when it shuts. Just a solid thump like it should.

Greg