Improved Door Seals

[67chevy1series]

About 2 years ago if you would have to me that having all the windows up and the cab as sealed as it was from the factory that if you shut the doors they would compress the air in the cab enough to fight the doors from closing I probably would have answered "yeah.. Sure" but I've noticed on my 67 if roll down the windows I can "gentle one finger close" the doors no problem. But if I roll the windows up it is not possible. Unless your finger is green, really large and you where purple shorts. Now I know that the latch and door adjustment in accordance to the latch makes a big difference in the way the door shuts, but I noticed in 67, there was no ventalation of any sort besides the kick panels. There wasn't any hard lines running in or out of the cab to the charcoal canister, or a door jamb vent like they had in the 72's. But I have installed a door jamb vent in my 67 and it has made the doors much easier to shut. Long story short have any if you guys come to realize this and found ways to make the doors shut real nice?

[In The Ten Ring]

Originally Posted by FirstOwner69

Just to clear up any confusion about these seals AND the originals.

In the 45 years I've had my truck, the doors have always required a fair amount of effort/slamming to close. This was true to a somewhat lesser extent even after the original seals were mashed to almost nothing. To some degree litew8 is correct. The doors never did close with minimal effort and a nice solid satisfying thunk. My Dakota seals are from the junkyard. So, they are fairly well broken in. They fit great, but it does require a fair amount of effort to close the doors... almost like the originals.

Maybe my truck was an outlier and others always closed beautifully. Maybe...

Wow, my truck must have been made on a Wednesday because the doors are super easy to close. **My dad DRILLED into me to never slam doors. Sometimes I have to try to shut a door 2 or three times on even a modern car.

[mcbassin]

Originally Posted by 67chevy1series

About 2 years ago if you would have to me that having all the windows up and the cab as sealed as it was from the factory that if you shut the doors they would compress the air in the cab enough to fight the doors from closing I probably would have answered "yeah.. Sure" but I've noticed on my 67 if roll down the windows I can "gentle one finger close" the doors no problem. But if I roll the windows up it is not possible. Unless your finger is green, really large and you where purple shorts. Now I know that the latch and door adjustment in accordance to the latch makes a big difference in the way the door shuts, but I noticed in 67, there was no ventalation of any sort besides the kick panels. There wasn't any hard lines running in or out of the cab to the charcoal canister, or a door jamb vent like they had in the 72's. But I have installed a door jamb vent in my 67 and it has made the doors much easier to shut. Long story short have any if you guys come to realize this and found ways to make the doors shut real nice?

My doors shut great with either window rolled down a little, If they are rolled up they need to be slammed.

[FirstOwner69]

Originally Posted by mcbassin

My doors shut great with either window rolled down a little, If they are rolled up they need to be slammed.

Same here. Not quite "great" but helps considerably. Amazing how airtight they were. No wonder they added the jamb vents in 71 or 72.

[Guitar.Slave]

My doors shut with half the effort of a new car, but i havent replaced the seals yet.

[VWNate1]

For some odd reason , my doors shut quite easily...... .

[litew8]

I know I'm the one that mentioned cabin pressure as an explanation. Is it just mine, or do all of our trucks have an opening on the bottom rear of the cab (by cab corners). Are those areas supposed to be open like that or should there be something covering the openings? If they were sealed, I'd think shutting the doors would be near impossible to close.

[54belair]

jus subscribin

[Malamute]

Originally Posted by In The Ten Ring

Wow, my truck must have been made on a Wednesday because the doors are super easy to close. **My dad DRILLED into me to never slam doors. Sometimes I have to try to shut a door 2 or three times on even a modern car.

My dad did as well. His '71 shut with no effort at all and this was in the mid '80's. He would get after anyone that slammed them. I do the same with Stella and my son, now........the circle of life I suppose.

[litew8]

2nd follow up question: Why do some dislike having to SLAM the doors shut? Do you think it hurts the doors or something other?

[mechanicalman]

Originally Posted by litew8

2nd follow up question: Why do some dislike having to SLAM the doors shut? Do you think it hurts the doors or something other?

Yes

[litew8]

Please, feel free to elaborate your concerns. Why? My parts are 40+ years old and have no issues.

[hamjet]

Originally Posted by litew8

Please, feel free to elaborate your concerns. Why? My parts are 40+ years old and have no issues.

Its tough on the mirrors, 1000 slams cant be good for the point where they mount. Eventually they will fail.. plus, I always have to readjust the side mirror after slamming the door. Why would anyone want to have to slam there door anyway, they didn't come from the factory that way...

[70shortfleet]

I used Precision brand door seals after getting my truck done and had to slam the doors! I completely removed those and got Metro brand and now the doors shut great. I think if you spend the extra money, it will be worth it. I have also heard good things about Softseal too, just don't use the Precision brand for door to cab seal.

[litew8]

Originally Posted by hamjet

Its tough on the mirrors, 1000 slams cant be good for the point where they mount. Eventually they will fail.. plus, I always have to readjust the side mirror after slamming the door. Why would anyone want to have to slam there door anyway, they didn't come from the factory that way...

ok fair enough. Again 40+ years old, probably over 1,000,000 SLAMS and NO failure or wear.
I'm not sure what type of mirrors you have, but believe me - these mirrors were engineered to stay put, AND withstand being SLAMMED.

[Malamute]

Not to mention that the interior door parts are all metal and quite delicate. Window regulators as well. The harder you slam the doors the more likely you are to loosen one of those parts up. I prefer an effortless 1 finger close.......I inherited that from my dad.

[litew8]

Originally Posted by 70shortfleet

I used Precision brand door seals after getting my truck done and had to slam the doors! I completely removed those and got Metro brand and now the doors shut great. I think if you spend the extra money, it will be worth it. I have also heard good things about Softseal too, just don't use the Precision brand for door to cab seal.

This is a contradicting statement since Precision brand (what I use) are supposed to be OE equivalent. I'd be concerned that since they shut easily - they aren't truly sealing.

[marvgarr68]

My 68 would close the doors by itself just click. That was with old nasty seals. They do close now but you have to push them closed. I used new glue in seals from Tuckers (Precision). They are nice gluing isn't bad just remember you don't need that much. I used spring clamps to hold the seals tell the glue dried and never had a mess or problem. My drivers door closes better then then the pass door I still need to do some adjustment. I did notice when the door handles were off when I closed the doors that there was a lot of air coming out of the holes. This may be why they don't close well. I wonder if leaving the cowl vents open if this would help the air to escape?

[mcbassin]

I used Precision brand door seals after getting my truck done and had to slam the doors! I completely removed those and got Metro brand and now the doors shut great. I think if you spend the extra money, it will be worth it. I have also heard good things about Softseal too, just don't use the Precision brand for door to cab seal.

Can you elaborate about Metro brand? I researched on here before I bough mine and found Precision brand to be the favorite, so that's what brand I bought. I'm not too happy with the way my doors shut but, my problem seems to be from the cab being too air tight. If I roll the window down a little they shut great.

[70shortfleet]

Check out this this thread on door seal problems. http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...=636778&page=2 I was having the same exact problem that Robert Bergstrom was having so I thought I would try the Metro brand out and they worked out great! The doors shut 100 times better. All trucks are not created equal and the Precision brand might work on some trucks but they didn't work on mine and the Metro brand did. I think the Precision seals are a little too beefy which is making it harder to close the doors. Air pressure in the cab is always going to be a problem or GM would not have put the door jam vents on 72 models, I think that was the 1st year for them? All I know is the Metro brand worked for me, hope this helps

[Possmguts]

Awesome... Wish I had known there was better options before I put my all rubber OEM seals on.... They are total crap

[litew8]

---------------

Originally Posted by marvgarr68

I wonder if leaving the cowl vents open if this would help the air to escape?

Probably. As mentioned above, it's why GM put the doorjamb air vent on 72's. What does that tell everyone? Shutting the doors was always tight due to cabin pressure and your doors are supposed to be slammed shut. Like I mentioned above, if (non 72's) your doors close easily - the door is not sealing properly. Not rocket science. If your doors do not close at all - you have other issues.

[70shortfleet]

Originally Posted by litew8

---------------
Probably. As mentioned above, it's why GM put the doorjamb air vent on 72's. What does that tell everyone? Shutting the doors was always tight due to cabin pressure and your doors are supposed to be slammed shut. Like I mentioned above, if (non 72's) your doors close easily - the door is not sealing properly. Not rocket science. If your doors do not close at all - you have other issues.

Well litew8, if you are referring to my statement above, I never said my doors close easliy, I said they close great! They are sealed good with no wind noise. My truck is a 1972 GMC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4Id...XITr1ybgSJyasw

[litew8]

Originally Posted by 70shortfleet

Well litew8, if you are referring to my statement above, I never said my doors close easliy, I said they close great! They are sealed good with no wind noise. My truck is a 1972 GMC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4Id...XITr1ybgSJyasw

Hey neighbor, no, the laughter smiley was for the comment directly above calling OEM seals total crap. Then I replied to marvgarr68 and others in general.

[VWNate1]

Wow ;

Thanx for all the great replies ! .

Last night my Dodge Dakota seals from Steele Rubber Co. arrived , I'll drop them of to - night after work , along with another box full of window channels etc.