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You are here: Home Tech Articles & Tutorials  Body & Paint How to Completely Disassemble a Door
Back to Technical Index

How to Completely Disassemble a Door

 

 

This in-progress multi-page tutorial is designed to answer questions regarding your truck's doors. There's a ton of close-up shots here to show details, and for the purpose of these photographs, the doors were already removed from the truck.

Step 1: Remove the door panel perimeter trim

Here's a view of the '67 door we'll be starting with. You can see the door panel has snap-on perimeter trim which must be removed to gain access to the door panel screws. If your door doesn't have this trim, you may skip to Step 2.

Fig. 01

Fig. 02  -  Lifting up a section of the trim with a screwdriver. You should use a shop rag between the door and screwdriver to prevent scratches.

Fig. 03  -  Sometimes the retaining clip will come off with the trim, other times it'll stay in the door and can be removed after the trim is completely removed.

Fig. 05  -  The clips are filled with spray-in expandable foam, to help with vibration/rattle control and to keep them tight inside the trim lips.


Fig. 06

Fig. 04  -  The upper and lower pieces are slid over this connector along the sides and then crimped into place. To separate the two you'd need to carefully uncrimp the trim.

Step 2: Remove armrest, window crank and door release
1967 1968-1972

Fig. 07  -  The door release handle and window regulator handle are attached with chrome Allen-head cap screws, unless a previous owner has replaced them with Phillips-head screws.

Fig. 08  -  Door and window handles have plastic wear guards, on '68-up doors only the window crank has these wear guards (obviously). The '67 style is completely flat, whereas the '68-up style is cupped and will not fit the '67 door release handle.

Fig. 09  -  The armrests are attached with two Phillips-head screws.

You'll need to remove the armrest to gain access to the door release handle. The armrests are attached with three 3/8" cap screws and should be removed with a nut-driver. You can use a deep-well thin-wall socket, but it'll probably get stuck in the armrest and will be a PIA to remove.

Fig. 10  -  Use a nut-driver to remove the two small nuts holding the release handle to the door panel. Remove handle and scratch cup.

Fig. 11  -  The scratch cup has flanges on top which hold it to the door panel. Grab the bottom of the cup, pull down and out.

 

Fig. 12


Fig. 13

In both of these photos the '67-only window crank handle is on top, while the '68-'72 style, which is missing the self-adhesive aluminum cover for the hold-down screw, is on bottom. The '68-up handles were redesigned to be more shallow (not protruding out as far into the cab), per new '68 Federal safety regulations. And yes, they are fully interchangeable with each other.

Step 3: Remove door panel
This process is shown on a '67 door but is the same for all model years.

Fig. 14  -  Remove the 12 hold-down screws....

Fig. 15  -  ...and then remove the door panel. Note the presence of the Styrofoam seals around the door release and window crank hardware.

Fig. 16  -  A close-up of one of the Styrofoam seals. In many (most!) cases these are falling apart or missing completely.

Fig. 17  -  With the door panel removed you can now begin removing the internal hardware. Here is the '67 door...

Fig. 18  -  ...and here is the '68-'72 door. I got a little ahead of myself in this picture, the door release hardware has already been removed but I included the picture for comparison purposes.

NOTE: Please be careful during the next step. The edges of the access hole under the door panel (through which you'll be removing the door's interior pieces) can be sharp. It might be a good idea to take a moment and cover the edges with masking tape or duct tape, just for a little protection against cuts.

Step 4: Remove door release mechanisms
1967 1968-1972

Fig. 19  -  Remove the three small bolts holding the door release, push in a little and swing it down as far as it'll go, up against the front of the door...

Fig. 20  -  ...and then pull towards you to release the mechanism from the door latch. You can also just leave it attached to the door latch, and remove it and the latch as an assembly.

Fig. 21  -  Then you can remove the three Phillips-head screws holding the door latch mechanism in place. These might be rusty, so be careful not to booger up the head of the screw. A small impact driver works well here to remove stubborn screws.

Fig. 22  -  Here's the removed release mechanism and latch.

Fig. 23  -  Remove the Phillips-head screw holding the door release mechanism to the door shell.

Fig. 24  -  Pull the release mechanism off the door and drop down. You can see the clip holding the mechanism to the rod. There's an identical clip holding the other end of the rod to the door latch.
Fig. 25  -  Remove the door lock knob and then the three Phillips-head screws holding the latch to the door shell. Remove the entire latch assembly.
Fig. 26  -  Here's the removed release mechanisms and door latches.
Step 5: Removing the window regulator

This process is the same for all model-year doors.

Fig. 27  -  Remove three of the four bolts holding the window regulator to the door. As you begin to remove the final bolt, reach inside the door and grab the bottom of the glass. Once the last bolt is removed you can carefully drop the regulator and glass down to the bottom of the door.

Fig. 28  -  Grab the glass with one hand and the regulator with the other, and slide the regulator off the glass channel. Remove the regulator from the door and carefully let the glass down as far as it'll go. It's still in-between the front and rear channels at this point, so it won't drop all the way to the bottom of the door...yet.

Fig. 29  -  This is just a reference photo, to show you how high up inside the door the window regulator goes when in the full-upright position.
Fig. 30  -  Here is the removed R/S window regulator. These are identical for all '67-'72 F100 thru F350 trucks.
Step 6: Remove the door 'fuzzies'

This process is the same for all doors. The window 'fuzzies' need to be removed before attempting to remove the glass and vent window assembly....there won't be room at the top of the door to do otherwise.  Don't even think about trying it, and don't worry about trying to save them for re-use.

Fig. 31  -  Starting at the front of the door by the vent window assembly, pry the door fuzzies out. Be very careful here not to use too much force. This process needs the most patience, because the clips holding the fuzzies are impossible to remove without destroying, but when trying to pry them out you also run the risk of damaging the door frame where the clips insert. Take your time and just pry a little on one side, then a little on the other....and slowly work them out.

Fig. 32  -  The first of the two fuzzies is out....and without too much damage to the door frame. However, the holes for the clips will have to be re-flattened, since this area needs to be totally smooth for the new door fuzzies.

Step 7: Remove the vent window assembly

This process is the same for all doors.
NOTE: The vent window assembly is also the forward glass channel, so be careful when removing this. Once the assembly is unbolted from the door, the glass will want to drop. Be sure it's supported!


Fig. 33 

LEFT: Start by removing these three Phillips-head screws along the upper forward section of the window frame.

RIGHT: Then remove the Phillips-head screw supporting the middle of the assembly, just below the vent handle. (You can see that my vent handle has been broken off in this picture.)


Fig. 34

Fig. 35  -  Then remove the locknut holding the lower vent window assembly's window channel. Be sure to grab the window glass and hold on with one hand, while you push in on the channel to allow the set-screw to clear the door, and then forward, to pull the channel off the door glass. Gently lower the glass down to the bottom of the door.

Fig. 36  -  The setscrew will have to be removed from the window channel to permit it's extrication. Go up to the top of the door and pull the vent window assembly away from the door frame, and then maneuver the assembly to allow easy access to the setscrew through the door's main access hole.
Fig. 37  -  Use an 1/8" Allen wrench to remove the setscrew, and then...
Fig. 38  -  ...slide the vent window assembly's runner to the rear of the door and lift out.
Fig. 39  -  Then go ahead and feed the door glass up and out of the door shell.
Step 8: Remove outside door handle and lock cylinder

This process is the same for all doors. All '67-'72 outside door handles and lock assemblies are identical and interchangeable.


Fig. 40

LEFT: Use a flat-bladed screwdriver to remove the lock cylinder clip. Push the lock cylinder out the front of the door. To remove the door handle, you'll need to remove one 1/2" nut (hiding behind the white glob in this picture) and one 1/2" bolt on the rear door face (shown at right).


Fig. 42


Fig. 41 

LEFT: Here's a shot of the removed door handle assembly and the gaskets. You can see that the door button can be accessed by removing the two Phillips-head screws.

RIGHT: This is a disassembled door handle assembly. (Don't lose the small O-ring for the button.) The buttons often develop holes on the outer face, right where you push it with your thumb to open the door. If you've got good chrome on your handles but have a bad button, you can easily find one in a salvage yard and just swipe the button, if the donor truck's handle is pitted and unusable.


Fig. 43
Step 9: Remove the door hinges

This process is the same for all doors. All '67-'72 door hinges are identical and interchangeable. Each side is different from the other, and there is a top and bottom hinge.


Fig. 40

LEFT: Scribe the location of the three hinge
bolts or mark with a pencil and then remove.

RIGHT: Slide the hinge out of the hinge cage and
replace the bolts in the hinge to keep track of them.


Fig. 42


Fig. 41

LEFT: The left part of this picture is a view from the door's main access hole, looking up towards the hinge area. The right part of the picture is looking down through the window slot from the top of the door. You can see the hinge cage to which the hinge is bolted. You can also see that it's directly in line with the window, so installing one-piece glass would be extremely difficult. The entire door hinge would have to be relocated for clearance.
RIGHT: Two views of the same hinge cage from the outside the door, looking in.


Fig. 43

Fig. 44

Fig. 45

Fig.
4
6

The top door hinge on each side has a spring-loaded pawl to keep the door in an open position.

Well, there you have it....

...your door is now completely
disassembled into sub-components.


COMING SOON!

Well, that's it for now, folks....what you've just browsed through is what I have so far. In the near future I will be adding to this section with additional pages, to include the following:
  • Photo-documentation of the correct mounting locations of the various style of door-mounted rear view mirrors. This will include the sport mirror, the two-point Jr. West Coast (SwingLoc) mirror, the three-point Camper Special mirror, and the three-point tripod-style mirror.
  • Disassembly of the vent window assemblies
  • A collection of miscellaneous reference photos, useful for parts identification or reassembling the many pieces after a complete teardown.
 

 
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