The passenger-side door on my 99 Sahara doesn't seal too good resulting in a lot of wind noise and the occasional minor intrusion of rain or snow. The rubber seal is in good shape but the door just isn't aligned right. It's not really noticeable from the outside of the vehicle, but from the inside, if I look just right I can see a sliver of sky where the door should be sealed against the hard-top. How hard would this be to fix?
Thanks, QV
Well.....
Something isn't right. Have you had the roof off? If so, then likely the alignment is off on the install. I can cover a bunch by a 1/8" or less shift here and there or even just by changing the order of tightening things down. You know, front first, back first. corner to corner, side to side or start in the middle... If one part gets down too tight too soon, it can interfere with other parts away in the other corner fitting down properly.
I would guess a full shift slightly to the drivers side on the top would maybe do it. The other side is likely 'slightly' tighter than needed at the seal. Maybe that side of the top was tightened down first so the passenger side didn't quite pull down far enough? Sort of a teeter totter effect across the front seal.
Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT'sQV wrote:
That's good advice, but I should have mentioned that I had previously tried resetting the hardtop. Unfortunately I didn't have any luck - there's practically no tolerance in it's placement. The problem is that the passenger door (the bad one) is roughly 1/3" more forward than the driver's door resulting in a somewhat large gap at the upper corner of the door (near where the passenger's head would be) and a smaller gap between the door and the windshield. It's almost like the hinge or the frame around the window is slightly off spec.
I was thinking that perhaps I could adjust a hinge, but to keep things simple, do you think I could just squirt some kind of caulking in the passenger corner of the hardtop?
QV
Check the clamp thingys on the top of your windshield. Are they centered in the holes? I've found that things align fairly well when I tighten the clamps with them centered in the hole. Otherwise...as mike said, misaligned....
Is the drivers door tight?
I wouldn't add any caulking, that isn't the real fix and it'll just look like hell. The last time I realigned my door I figured out what I that was a pretty method. I latched the door and then loosened the hinges on one side of each hinge just enough so the door could work its own way into the position it liked... with a little help. It seemed to almost self-center and being latched (closed all the way), the door didn't go wildly out of alignment like it very easily can.
The driver's side is tight - no wind noise at all.
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