Door crack prevention?

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Old 07-09-2000, 12:29 AM
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Lightbulb Door crack prevention?

I think I found a way to prevent the door crack.
First of all, the reason why the doors crack on the F150's, in my opinion, is because when you roll the window up it pushes the sheet metal on the outside of the door out by about 1/8-3/16". When you roll it down, it comes back in, and because the sheet metal keeps being bent in and out every time you use your window, it eventually gives up and breaks due to material fatigue.
Today I took the door panel off to see if I could put some sort of spacer(s) inside the door to prevent the sheet metal from moving in and out and this is what I did:
I forced a piece of plastic about 1/2" thick in between the window track and the INSIDE of the door. Then I took a (don't laugh)rubber door stop, trimmed it down a little and forced it in between the reinforcement on the outside of the window track and the outside sheet metal of the door. This kept the outside of the door in the position where it was when the window was rolled up. Now when I roll the window down, the outside sheet metal stays where it is. There is a minimal movement but I really have to look to see it, and it doesn't move where the cracks occure at all.
I don't know if this will work, I guess I'll have to wait a couple of years to see. But I was able to stop, or at least minimize, what I think causes the door crack.
If anyone is interested, I'll try to come up with some drawings (it would be really hard to make pictures inside the door).
Thanks for your attention.
 
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Old 07-09-2000, 01:16 PM
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I see that the door flexes when the door is closed and you try to roll the window up and down. So Now I open the door and then roll the window up and down.

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Old 07-09-2000, 05:59 PM
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hmustang says:-------
You should show what you done to Ford so they can study it and have some kind of recall to fix the problem if it works.
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Before you contact Ford, give me time to corner the market on rubber door stops because millions will be sold if Ford adopts this fix!


 
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Old 07-09-2000, 06:58 PM
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I'm sure Ford has a fix for the door crack already but it would cost too much to recall millions of trucks and it's not a safety issue anyway. Most F150 owners are not aware of the problem or don't care about it. It's much cheaper to fix or replace a few doors than do a major recall and sooner or later they'll be out of warranty anyway.

Give me some time and I'll show some pictures of what I did.

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2000 XLT 5.4L 3.55LS White w. greey interior, spray-in AND plastic bedliner, hitch
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http://people.we.mediaone.net/lukacs/ford.JPG


 
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Old 07-10-2000, 12:00 AM
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Cool

new 5.4,
i agree with you on the cause of the door crack. your idea seems to make a lot of sense, i would like to see pictures or drawings if you could.

thank you

------------------
Black 99 xlt sc flairside,4.6 2w.d.,jardine catback,
superchip,
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3" lift procomp spindles,A/R Phyton 285/75/16 A/T B.F,
Ford 9mm sparkplug wires.
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FUTURE MODS: LS AND 4.10 GEARS.


 
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Old 07-10-2000, 12:55 AM
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You should show what you done to Ford so they can study it and have some kind of recall to fix the problem if it works.

------------------
2000 F150 XLT Reg. cab
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  #7  
Old 07-11-2000, 07:23 PM
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What's a Jeff Emig special addition? Win a championship, lose the next year, get caught smoking pot and fired from your factory job, make a come back with Yamaha and win in Vegas, wreck and break both wrists at the SX, heal by the nationals and wreck at the first race? Just kidding, I still have respect for the guy, I wish he would come back and kick MC's butt. But really, what is it? Sorry to go so far off the thread

------------------
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Future mods (caseing the banks now):

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Old 07-11-2000, 08:26 PM
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I guess Jeff Emig designed the upgades on my truck to make it look the way it is. The upgrades include a lift, big tires, custom paint, billet grill and I don't know if the spray-in bedliner was part of it but I threw a plastic one in anyway. It's not that big of a deal but at least it looks unique; I haven't seen another one like it yet.
Click on the link in my signature to see a Picture of my truck.

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2000 Supercab XLT 2WD 5.4L 3.55LS White w. greey interior, spray-in AND plastic bedliner, hitch
Jeff Emig Special Edition
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