Thread: Defender - drivers door adjustment

I guess you'll find out when you do it but adjusting panel gaps in a Defender is a bit like herding cats - difficult and pointless.

There is not too much you will be able to do with positioning of the hinges, their respective position is rather well defined by the holes for the bolts and there is not much to do about these (unless you are willing to handle a drill). Not worth the bother. There are, however, some nylon spacers underneath the hinge, which can be removed/added to if required. Make sure you have those at hand before commencing your job.
Catch adjustment is an altogether different issue. I have tried mine several times and found it sometimes seems to depend on ambient temperature. It looks easy, but somehow it's not...
As Vlad says, if it's only for cosmetic reasons, the whole exercise is rather pointless. If you are having a self-opening door or one that's difficult to close you may have a point in trying.
Cheers

Ok then, I might take your advice and just leave it. Its just a little annoying though. Its the only door on the car that is not quite right, and from the inside, along the top edge seems to leak a little too much air

How old is it? If it's under warranty just ask LR to do it for you.

They managed to re-align my rear drivers side door nicely. I imagine they got the apprentice onto it with a very big piece of wood to bend something, but what I couldn't see couldn't worry me.....

If it didn't leak air how would you breathe ?

Is it a new car ? Get the dealer to fix it - they may not be able to but at least you can annoy them by making them try.

Come to think of it, what might have happened is that the hinge pin has given in, in which case the door may be ever so slightly misaligned and maybe even difficult to close. Check by lifting the door, there should be no play in the hinge.
In case the pin is broken you will have to change the hinge, which is essentially only loosening the four bolts and swap it. Having said that, the bolts that mount to the frame are hold by basket nuts that are difficult to get at in case corrosion prevents the bolt from loosening. WD40 or similar is essential. How do I know...?
Cheers

If you are unsure with a newish vehicle, then let the dealer manage it, especially if the door lock required adjusting.

There are several adjustments available to square things up, depending what the issues are.

The door hinges have heaps of movement on the firewall as the bolts go into caged nuts and have movement. 1mm at this point equates to 10mm at the opposite end of the door. Also the doors can be spaced in or out with factory spacers which go between the hinges and the door.

Also the B pillar has slotted holes where it is bolted to the roof with around 10mm of movement. This is a bit more difficult as the roof lining has to be removed to adjust this and the rear door will need realignment as well and heaps of screws on the lower end.

Then there is spacing of the firewall itself which is adjusted by adding or removing washers. This is usually factory set and very difficult to adjust at any later stage.

Be mindful of the space at the top of the doors if you intend to install a roof rack.

Erich

Thanks guys. Just the sort of response I was after. Feedback from onwers who have been there before.

The defender is new. And yes I should take it back to the dealer. Trouble is, I've found them pretty hopeless, and feel it would be just easier to adjust the door myself. Plus I dont loose the car for the day, and all that stuff around.

Bundalene, I know about the B piller bolt that connects to the roof to the pillar, as Ive only got the car back from the panel beater because this connection was loose, and the roof had lifted off the piller by about 5mm, tearing away the silicone bead, all visable from the outside. This apparently is a common problem - but now fixed. Now this connection is fixed, and the door actually has a better gap since the roof has been pulled down, and the top of the piller moved forward by about 5mm to where it should be.

I asked the panel beater about the door gap, and he said "we never really have much luck getting the gaps any better". This guy does all the LR repairs for the local dealer. Anyway I took his answer as, he didnt really want to fiddle with it. And I thought at the time, how hard can it be?

I reckon it was never lined up correctly in the factory because the piller bolt was always loose - which meant the roof line was a little high and the piller was sloped back too far.

Bundalene - Its the gap around the door as you face the door, that is the problem. So I dont need to use spacers anywhere. You said "the door hinges have heaps of movement on the firewall as the bolts go into caged nuts and have movement. 1mm at this point equates to 10mm at the opposite end of the door". - So I reckon if I loosen the bolts off, I should have some movement. If I have a little movement to the direction I want, I should be able to then just re-tighten the bolts in the new position. This is my therory! Is it worth a try?