my 96 front doors are rattling pretty bad, the rubber seal is OK and the rubber bumpers are OK. when I grab the door and push hard in and out there is play and it rattles similar to when I'm on a rough road. I was wondering if the latches are worn out and not holding the doors in all the way. I couldnt think of a way to confirm this (cant see anything when the doors closed and everything looks good when its open). anyone have any experience with this???
door rattles (latches???)
- Thread starter Johnnie
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PitbullRescuer
New member
Mine rattles too but I just noticed one of the rubber bumpers is gone.
How does it look when the door is closed? Does it line up and sit flush? Has it ever been hit to your knowledge?
How does it look when the door is closed? Does it line up and sit flush? Has it ever been hit to your knowledge?
it doesnt look like its been hit, the doors seem to line up pretty good. Its quiet on pavement but I almost need a better stereo when off roading. both doors will push in far enough to feel like its unloading off the striker. I've thought about trying to put thicker rubber bumpers in
OK for those interested I went to a shop in the Phoenix area that sells automotive painting supplies and has a great little corner that has a large assortment of trim,fasteners,hardware an unbelievable amount of the little things that modern cars have. I found some rubber bumpers that are justs like the ones that my 96 4runner has on the doors only they are about twice as tall. either my bumpers are crushed down over time or the door latches dont hold the door against them very well anymore, or both. anyway the doors stay very snug against these bumpers and it made a huge difference in the doors. total cost $9
I know 8 years later, but, was that at Space Age paint Supply on Country Club?? I have same issue.
96DesertRat
New member
Ancient thread but I'm having the same issues/question and hoping to keep the discussion consolidated to an already existing thread...
Same as the OP, my driver's door does not fully latch to the point where it is held securely in place. It latches enough to close easily and locks just fine, but when driving on dirt roads it rattles like mad. When the door is closed it stands proud of the body by about 2-3mm and when pushed can be made flush with the rest of the body.
What needs replacing/adjusting to fix this? The rubber stops mentioned above seem like a decent fix but not solving the real problem. All of the other doors are fine.
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Same as the OP, my driver's door does not fully latch to the point where it is held securely in place. It latches enough to close easily and locks just fine, but when driving on dirt roads it rattles like mad. When the door is closed it stands proud of the body by about 2-3mm and when pushed can be made flush with the rest of the body.
What needs replacing/adjusting to fix this? The rubber stops mentioned above seem like a decent fix but not solving the real problem. All of the other doors are fine.
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brookester
New member
Mine rattles too. I might try the rubber bumper trick and would like to know that paint shop in Phoenix also.
When you open and close the door does it sound like a older ford ranger ?
Hard to shut some times?
My truck use to do that same thing
Switched out all the lock mechanisms form another truck and into my doors,
Could just switch doors but mine were in better shape...
lock mechanisms are easy to switch out just don’t break the linkage clips
Hard to shut some times?
My truck use to do that same thing
Switched out all the lock mechanisms form another truck and into my doors,
Could just switch doors but mine were in better shape...
lock mechanisms are easy to switch out just don’t break the linkage clips
Door latch taken apart if it helps. My passenger front door didn't rattle while driving but you really had to slam it to get it to fully latch and not just halfway latched. The little black rubber bumper in my latch that the striker loop hits has a split in one side of it but I don't think that mattered as I switched it out with a good one and still had the same problem. Also all the rubber coating on the metal latch was torn up, I just cut it all off and reinstalled the latch without it. The only thing that fixed my door issues was i fully sound insulated my doors. The extra weight helps a lot. Door closes fine no rattles.
96DesertRat
New member
Dang, that door latch looks like an explosion of small parts. What exactly in the door mechanism "goes bad" when the door is loosely latching? I just went off roading today and closed the rear driver's side door on an object and now that door is doing the same thing... It latches closed but only loosely and has lots of play when you push in on it towards the truck
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Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
96DesertRat
New member
This is "closed" for me now on the driver's side
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Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
This is "closed" for me now on the driver's side
Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
I have no idea what goes bad but really easy to replace the whole mechanism bro...
:uzi:
I think the springs aren't as strong and/or the rubber coating on the latches that comes off, I think its isolates vibration and spring back(less bounce back) when closing the door. Besides the rubber coating, the striking edges on the latches have little built in rubber springs that aren't there anymore when the rubber wears off. I was thinking about maybe re-coating my metal latches in that liquid plasti-dip but the rubber springs won't be there just the plasti/rubber coating.
I dunno about the hammer thing but maybe it breaks the screw bosses loose and then the plate can adjust, the bolts and holes are self centering. I can see maybe the boss plate is just being held in place by body paint, I'll have to check it out. My bolt holes are very not centered in the door sill frame mount holes.
Never mind, not adjustable. The nut plate has a spot weld to the frame, I tried to break it free but no go. If you got it free you could adjust a little.
They are, and years ago in fact I solved my rattling door problem by simply tightening the attaching bolts. Haven't had an issue since.
Easy and cheap first step!
