Thread: Back door Rattles

If its the older (pre-2002) 2 piece door it could be cracked. Have you pulled the interior trim off and had a look at the door from that side?

Originally Posted by dm_td5

If its the older (pre-2002) 2 piece door it could be cracked. Have you pulled the interior trim off and had a look at the door from that side?

I agree. The welded frame has a tendancy to crack around the joints towards the bottom.

As for the hinges there is a brass sphere (new ones are probably something cheaper) between the two halves. The bolt that goes all the way through has a spring that pushes up into the underside of the hindge, followed by a locking tab and nut. Not much to rattle in there unless its fallen appart and youve lost the locking tab and nut - thats happened to me before on older Defenders.

I have the later type rear door on mine, and that was rattling the other day. I ended up sorting it by adjusting the striker on the rear body to hold the door tighter

The earlier doors are rubbish.

I bet its cracked the frame inside the door , Thats if it still has the factory wheel carrier on it

Cracking is quite possible, but in my experience the major rattle will be due to the maladjustment of the hinges - if you think about it, three hinges, if they are not all sharing the load, there will be free play on the third. Because of the ball type of hinge, any vertical play translates into horizontal play as well, and the door is flexible enough to allow this to vibrate back and forth.

It took me a long time to work this out. Solution is to adjust (if necessary) the door position with two hinges, with the third hinge either loose or removed, and then tighten it in position being careful not to allow any slack to develop as you do so.

If you cannot manage this without developing play, it indicates wear on the balls in the hinges has got to be different enough that you need to do something. Options include a Series 1/2/2a hinge repair kit (Four Wheel Drives for example) add a washer you have dished for example, turn up a longer "ball" as I did, or even buy new hinges. The problem is that the wear will be as much on the sockets as the balls, if not more so, with the result that new balls do not fix the problem. Because it is a very dusty area, it is hard to avoid wear on the hinges - lubricating them just helps the wear by adding a cutting fluid.

John