Check your doors for alignment. Quality Control

[RAMpage]

Ok fellas, I finally decided to tackle this issue myself. It is SUPER easy.

You need a T45 star bit. I bought a set from Harbor Freight for 24 bucks. Then you need an impact wrench. I am using a 18v Ridgid from Home Depot, but any impact will do. You just need something that will easily break the bolts loose.

I was originally thinking this "whacking" of the latch was to bend something. Not at all. I took the latch completely off just so I could see what the bolts screw in to. Turns out, the nuts on the inside of the body are affixed in such a way that they float. With the bolts about 3/4 of the way turned in, or 1/4 of the way out...both bolts, I put a piece of wood up against them and gave them a light tap. I could then see those backer nuts move a little. I continued to tap them until I got them moved a few mm more inward toward the cab. Lots of folks are suggesting the dealer is "whacking" the latch. You could do this, but then you can't really see the backer nuts move and you are just guessing at how far things are shifting. You could just loosen the bolts and take a few whacks on the latch, but you can't really tell if it's moving. By removing the latch first and then just tapping the bolts, you can clearly and visibly see just how far those nuts are moving inward and not over/under do it.

Pulled out the bolts, reinstall the latch, tightened it all back down and the door now closes tighter and farther into the cab and removed all of the misalignment.

So, for those of you that aren't completely dependent on dealers to fix everything and have some tools laying around to do the job, this is a simple 5 minute fix you can do yourself. Nothing is getting bent and nothing is getting excessively whacked with a hammer. I literally just barely tapped and things shifted right to where they needed to be. For everyone else that likes to argue that they shouldn't have to work on their own vehicles out of principle or spite or whatever....then you guys can just keep waiting on your dealers and/or live with the misalignments. I prefer to take the bull by the horns and just knock these little things out.

I can only attest to this fixing my particular issue where my drivers side rear door was sticking out at the bottom. Obviously having the door shut further into the cab is a logical and obvious solution. Any other misalignments may not be resolved with this method and your mileage may vary.

Are you referring to this latch? Just double checking before I have a go at it.
Thanks!

 

[Hackmunch]

i would assume yes that latch.

 

[Rototerrier]

Are you referring to this latch? Just double checking before I have a go at it.
Thanks!

Yes

 

[RAMpage]

Much better! Thanks for the help!

 

[TWRam]

I'm sorry I read this thread. I didn't even notice the small alignment issues until now. Ugh.... Maybe I'll forget again soon.

 

[ronmac7609]

My front passenger door stuck out farther than the rest. Dealer had my truck for about an hour and moved the latch. All better now.

 

[JRadford43]

Ok fellas, I finally decided to tackle this issue myself. It is SUPER easy.

You need a T45 star bit. I bought a set from Harbor Freight for 24 bucks. Then you need an impact wrench. I am using a 18v Ridgid from Home Depot, but any impact will do. You just need something that will easily break the bolts loose.

I was originally thinking this "whacking" of the latch was to bend something. Not at all. I took the latch completely off just so I could see what the bolts screw in to. Turns out, the nuts on the inside of the body are affixed in such a way that they float. With the bolts about 3/4 of the way turned in, or 1/4 of the way out...both bolts, I put a piece of wood up against them and gave them a light tap. I could then see those backer nuts move a little. I continued to tap them until I got them moved a few mm more inward toward the cab. Lots of folks are suggesting the dealer is "whacking" the latch. You could do this, but then you can't really see the backer nuts move and you are just guessing at how far things are shifting. You could just loosen the bolts and take a few whacks on the latch, but you can't really tell if it's moving. By removing the latch first and then just tapping the bolts, you can clearly and visibly see just how far those nuts are moving inward and not over/under do it.

Pulled out the bolts, reinstall the latch, tightened it all back down and the door now closes tighter and farther into the cab and removed all of the misalignment.

So, for those of you that aren't completely dependent on dealers to fix everything and have some tools laying around to do the job, this is a simple 5 minute fix you can do yourself. Nothing is getting bent and nothing is getting excessively whacked with a hammer. I literally just barely tapped and things shifted right to where they needed to be. For everyone else that likes to argue that they shouldn't have to work on their own vehicles out of principle or spite or whatever....then you guys can just keep waiting on your dealers and/or live with the misalignments. I prefer to take the bull by the horns and just knock these little things out.

I can only attest to this fixing my particular issue where my drivers side rear door was sticking out at the bottom. Obviously having the door shut further into the cab is a logical and obvious solution. Any other misalignments may not be resolved with this method and your mileage may vary.

Ok fellas, I finally decided to tackle this issue myself. It is SUPER easy.

You need a T45 star bit. I bought a set from Harbor Freight for 24 bucks. Then you need an impact wrench. I am using a 18v Ridgid from Home Depot, but any impact will do. You just need something that will easily break the bolts loose.

I was originally thinking this "whacking" of the latch was to bend something. Not at all. I took the latch completely off just so I could see what the bolts screw in to. Turns out, the nuts on the inside of the body are affixed in such a way that they float. With the bolts about 3/4 of the way turned in, or 1/4 of the way out...both bolts, I put a piece of wood up against them and gave them a light tap. I could then see those backer nuts move a little. I continued to tap them until I got them moved a few mm more inward toward the cab. Lots of folks are suggesting the dealer is "whacking" the latch. You could do this, but then you can't really see the backer nuts move and you are just guessing at how far things are shifting. You could just loosen the bolts and take a few whacks on the latch, but you can't really tell if it's moving. By removing the latch first and then just tapping the bolts, you can clearly and visibly see just how far those nuts are moving inward and not over/under do it.

Pulled out the bolts, reinstall the latch, tightened it all back down and the door now closes tighter and farther into the cab and removed all of the misalignment.

So, for those of you that aren't completely dependent on dealers to fix everything and have some tools laying around to do the job, this is a simple 5 minute fix you can do yourself. Nothing is getting bent and nothing is getting excessively whacked with a hammer. I literally just barely tapped and things shifted right to where they needed to be. For everyone else that likes to argue that they shouldn't have to work on their own vehicles out of principle or spite or whatever....then you guys can just keep waiting on your dealers and/or live with the misalignments. I prefer to take the bull by the horns and just knock these little things out.

I can only attest to this fixing my particular issue where my drivers side rear door was sticking out at the bottom. Obviously having the door shut further into the cab is a logical and obvious solution. Any other misalignments may not be resolved with this method and your mileage may vary.

When you did this and had the bottom sit flush with the cab, did the top of the door also get pushed further in? Reason I ask this is because I adjusted the striker plate today and the bottom is flush but in turn the top sits too far in which also looks awkward.

 

[Rototerrier]

No, mine looks good. You may have something entirely different going on. But, I think having part of the door sit in further will look better than part sticking out. But, that's just a guess as I've not seen this scenario in person. Have any photos?

 

[JRadford43]

No, mine looks good. You may have something entirely different going on. But, I think having part of the door sit in further will look better than part sticking out. But, that's just a guess as I've not seen this scenario in person. Have any photos?

I was able to get it just about right. The rear passenger door wasnt bad. I was able to get that one lined up in just a few goes. But the door still has a clank when it shuts which I hate. I moved the striker up and down as well thinking it was just hitting the door incorrectly but I got it to sit in the middle when it was struck.

The front door was more of the pain because when I had the bottom flush the top looked super sunk in which caused the trim and body lines to look crazy. I was able to move the striker up, down, in and out until I got it to where I was happy. It definitely looks better now. Crazy that my dealer wasnt willing to do something so simple. But I appreciate you taking the time to type up the how to.

 

[cnyram]

Ok fellas, I finally decided to tackle this issue myself. It is SUPER easy.

You need a T45 star bit. I bought a set from Harbor Freight for 24 bucks. Then you need an impact wrench. I am using a 18v Ridgid from Home Depot, but any impact will do. You just need something that will easily break the bolts loose.

I was originally thinking this "whacking" of the latch was to bend something. Not at all. I took the latch completely off just so I could see what the bolts screw in to. Turns out, the nuts on the inside of the body are affixed in such a way that they float. With the bolts about 3/4 of the way turned in, or 1/4 of the way out...both bolts, I put a piece of wood up against them and gave them a light tap. I could then see those backer nuts move a little. I continued to tap them until I got them moved a few mm more inward toward the cab. Lots of folks are suggesting the dealer is "whacking" the latch. You could do this, but then you can't really see the backer nuts move and you are just guessing at how far things are shifting. You could just loosen the bolts and take a few whacks on the latch, but you can't really tell if it's moving. By removing the latch first and then just tapping the bolts, you can clearly and visibly see just how far those nuts are moving inward and not over/under do it.

Pulled out the bolts, reinstall the latch, tightened it all back down and the door now closes tighter and farther into the cab and removed all of the misalignment.

So, for those of you that aren't completely dependent on dealers to fix everything and have some tools laying around to do the job, this is a simple 5 minute fix you can do yourself. Nothing is getting bent and nothing is getting excessively whacked with a hammer. I literally just barely tapped and things shifted right to where they needed to be. For everyone else that likes to argue that they shouldn't have to work on their own vehicles out of principle or spite or whatever....then you guys can just keep waiting on your dealers and/or live with the misalignments. I prefer to take the bull by the horns and just knock these little things out.

I can only attest to this fixing my particular issue where my drivers side rear door was sticking out at the bottom. Obviously having the door shut further into the cab is a logical and obvious solution. Any other misalignments may not be resolved with this method and your mileage may vary.

You saved me a trip to the dealer, thanks. My issue was the same as yours. Rear driver's door, very noticable. I put a piece of wide tape along the edge of the striker and loosened the two bolts just enough to alow the striker to move. Used a short piece of 2 x 4 against the striker, (with the tape protecting the paint) and gave it a couple taps until I saw an appropriate gap between the tape and the striker. Took so little time, I even did the passenger rear door that stuck out a minimum amount. Oh, and a ratchet will loosen the bolts, an impact gun is not necessary.

Thanks again!

 

[Billy James]

Both of my driver side doors had messed up gaps. The trailing edges on both were sticking out. I took it to the dealership and they had my truck for two days supposedly fixing it. It was a little better when I got it back; but not very good. The brilliant technician signed it off as "adjusted doors as close as possible". This weekend I measured the clearances on the latch and the catch and compared them to the passenger side and they were off by less than 1/8 inch. I loosened the latches and catches on the driver side, knocked them in a little with a brass bar and tightened them up; it s nearly perfect now.

 

[Rayzram]

My doors look like Ray Charles installed them. Not even worth the effort to return to the dealer for another failed fix attempt so I just live with it.

 

[Dirtfreak]

My dealer said that my door sticking out was normal and within specs . i removed one hinge at a time to drill the holes larger because there was no play for adjustment in the direction i needed to go, then moved the door where it needed to be with a friends help and tightened the nuts. luckily mine was a rear door and you could get to the hinges from the front. Having to do this myself pissed me off so much i made a point of showing it to everybody who asked about my truck and was interested in RAM. i put blue tape arrows pointing to it every time i stooped at the store next to the Dealer. It wasn't my dealers fault, they showed me the spec sheet from FCA saying the door can be out a certain amount , What hogwash!

Your pictures are so small, Can't make out anything.

 

[Tellsch]

I know this thread is a little old, but I just adjusted my doors and it worked out great. Both of the second row doors were flush on the top but stuck out on the bottom.

The only change I would make to the instruction in the thread is to loosen both bolts enough to expose 1/4" of bolt head. Take a piece of wood and adjust the bolt that you need to move. In my case, I hit the bolt on the bottom towards the inside of the car which pulled in the bottom of the door. Hit the bolt itself and not the latch and it will be easier to fine tune the fitment. Only took 5 mins on each door. Looks and sounds worlds better.

 

[gpbst3]

I have the same issue with the rear driver door out of alignment. Went to the local dealer and they could not adjust the hinges. They said the door might be warped and recommended a new door, under warranty. Not happy, as the new door would need to be painted by the body shop!!! Im printing out this post to see if they are willing to smack the striker plate bolts. Im going to see if they will order new hinges first before the door replacement. Im not so much bothered by the look of the door but the air leak sound.

 

[gpbst3]

Had the truck back at the dealer today. They installed the trim piece that does between the bed and cab.

They also had someone else check my door. They ended up having to adjust the front fender, driver door and rear passenger door to get it back in alignment. Pretty crappy quality control if you ask me @ ramcares !!!!!!

Im pretty relieved I dont need a new door and paint job.

 

[derp]

Pretty crappy quality control if you ask me @ ramcares !!!!!!

Bad QA, Say Whaaaaat? I don't believe it.

See sig.

 

[imus]

My rear driver side door has the problem of sticking out on the bottom, but then being sunken in a the top.

Question - is the alignment everyone is doing just at the striker or is there adjustment possible at the hinges ?

 

[derp]

My rear driver side door has the problem of sticking out on the bottom, but then being sunken in a the top.

Question - is the alignment everyone is doing just at the striker or is there adjustment possible at the hinges ?

what you describe reads like hinge adjustment. depending on the offset of the door from ideal, you may also then need to adjust the striker to match the new door alignment.

Pics? I could be saying entirely the wrong thing based on my interpretation of what you have.

 

[2020blckout]

No issues here on my 2020 limited