Ranchero door alignment.

[57ford]

Hey. Are there any diagrams with measurements of the door openings on a Ranchero? I'm convinced my body is outta shape as the doors have absolutely no chance of fitting! They close, but the gaps are just, well, awful.
Robin.

[Ford Blue blood]

From the factory the door fit on three 300 series 2dr cars I have had has been "sloppy" at best.  The best you'll be able to do is align the back edge then fit the fenders to the front.  Plenty of wiggle room to move the fenders around.  The top edge is a problem area along with the area around the "A" pillar.  Add and remove metal as required from the door to get the wanted gaps.  Not an easy fix but the only real option for a perfect gap all the way around.

[Frankenstein57]

Just an FYI, make sure your car is on the wheels. Don't try to fit panels with the car on jacks,  Mark

[57ford]

Thank you for your reply.

[gasman826]

No, diagrams, measurements, etc.  The fit and finish was up to the tradesman at the end of the assembly line and the franchised dealer pre-delivery personnel.  The service manual shows pictures with 2X4s being used to reshape a door.  Without viewing the whole picture and not being able to run my fingers over it makes it hard to impossible to give helpful advise...advise would be guess and could do more damage than good.  Trial and error.  Make one little adjustment at a time and test fit.  DON'T slam the door.  If it gets too frustrating, take a break and walk away.

[Limey57]

Robin, mine were similarly awful, square pegs/round holes springs to mind.  No amount of adjusting would get them to fit, I was convinced the body was distorted but everything seemed to measure square.  In the end I ground down the edges of the door (re-welding after) and built up other edges with weld. 

http://57fordsforever.com/smf/index.php?topic=4400.msg29709#msg29709

[57ford]

Cheers for the info. I'll keep you posted.

[djfordmanjack]

57 bodies are prone to misalignment due to their thick rubber body mounts. they sag a lot in 6 decades and the body moves in all directions. the best way to align the door gaps is figure out which body mounts have failed and shim or replace them. often the body mount bolts are frozen and the body mount assembly is loose on the frame. there are different rubber mounts ( square) at the A post/firewall areas. they tend to sag a lot more, causing the rear door corners touching the  rockers. aligning them further up will completely mess up the B post gap (will get wider on top). the door tops are a horrible fit on wagons but should be ok on sedans. could be equally rough on the Ranchero. they used 2dr custom sdn doors. they slope down to the rear (because of crown of 2dr roof). wgn and rnchro have flat tops. the gaps get wider to the rear by at least 1/8" , factory !
I love these cars, but the door gaps....well.  let's just say, they left a lot to be adjusted....

try putting a jack under the a or b post area of the rockers and try lifting it. it will make very clear to understand what Frankenstein, Gasman and Limey say.

[57ford]

What you say about the mounts is interesting as mine is built on a convertable frame (how I aquired it). I've subsequently chopped out the x member and renewed all body mounts. Looks like i'll be buying a few packs of shims! 😁

[thomasso]

Curious, did you shorten the frame or lengthen the body ?  And how did the mounts line up.  Sorry I haven't read your whole post.  Convertible mounts are different.  They are just squares of basically rubber belting, in fact I made mine from thick conveyor belting, this was before repos were available for convs.  I lost a lot of paint off the door jambs before getting a decent fit, some hole slotting too.  I've seen unrestored convertibles that the doors are hitting on both ends from frame and mount sag although shouldn't be a major issue with a rigid body.  Good luck.

[57ford]

The frame has been shortened at the rearmost crossmember. I moved the front and rear spring hangars forward by 2 inches. All of the mounts line up well, apart from middle of the tub need fabricating, and the next mounts rearward need moving by a couple inches.

[djfordmanjack]

both of my wagons had stacks of up to 3x 1/8 inch thick washer shims at just some of the body mounts from factory! they obviously needed a lot of alignment.

if you think that you just slap any body on any chassis with a new set of rubber mounts, than you get what you have...

not hating, just talking from my own experience. rubbers sag, chassis and bodies twist and will leave you with a big mess of door gap misalignment. it took me years to accept how these cars were designed, built and shimmed from factory.

Good thing is, it takes very simple things like body shims and washers to cure the problem. You just need lots of time, patience and thinking.
Good luck !