Projects Door alignment opinions and Altman latch solution?

If it were mine I would put the door back where it was and modify the striker as necessary. Your door fit pretty good on that model truck.

 

Dumb question. Are Altman latches the same as bear claws?

 

Not a dumb question at all. They are not the same but similar. Instead of two jaws that go around the striker, there is only one that wraps around.

 

Right. And hopefully not suggesting this is any fault of the Altman latch, although having some different strike bolt mounting locations sure would be nice from the manufacturer....


So here's what I did. I adjusted my door back to where everything lines up. I honestly do not believe this door can get any better alignment.


I took some measurements, made some marks and then removed the strike plate from the driver's side. I took the passenger strike plate, turned it upside down so it fits on the driver side, bolted it in and made my mark to drill a new strike bolt hole. I should've done this from the start. I dropped the hole down 1/3" of an inch from where the original hole would've been. As you can see, the original hole is below the strike bolt in this picture. And if I ever want to use this plate on the passenger side all I need to do is unscrew it, put the strike bolt in the other hole and swap sides.


I think I nailed the alignment. As you can see, the strike bolt is hitting dead center of the latch.
I did the best I could w/ this picture....



I made a little extra room for the bar that connects the interior door handle to the latch. Cut the outer section of the door skin and folded down the inner door skin. If I was really meticulous, I'd consider sealing that gap, but I'm not that anal.


Now all I have to do is remove the latch mechanism to trim the window track in order to finalize this. Here's a vid of it closing. Don't mind the rattling. Still a lot of loose stuff in the door (window regulator, track, etc.).

 

Thanks again for everyone's help. I learned a bit about the door adjustments in this process and how to go about it should I need it in the future.

 

Nice! Glad to hear you worked this out. Had me scratching my noggin too.

 

Good job, enjoy!