i took my doors of for a few days, and i threw them back on this morning cause we're supposed to get rain, except my doors decided that they dont fit anymore, i got them on and they shut and everything but the bottom of the doors are catching on the bottom of the door frame, i made sure the shims were in right they were i retightened everything but nothing worked, is there anything else i can do, if not im just gonna take a hammer to the bottom of the door and straighten them out my way haha

 

If you took your jeep wheelin with the doors off, that can cause some problems. Since cherokees are unibody vehicles, the body is essential to the structural integrity of the "frame". Taking the doors off weakens the integrity of the vehicle, and allows the body to twist and become more obscure more easily.

 

yeah i was thinking about that, but i never went off roading when i had them off, thats why it puzzles me as to why they dont fit right anymore

 

adjust the brackets on the door side untill it fits right. it might take a while but thats the only way to make sure they fit correctly

 

the doors are not a structural support for the unibody
the hatch on the other hand is if you were running with out your hatch installed and nothing supporting in its place you may have tweaked something enough to make your doors fit funny but i think it would take some serious flexin or curb hoppin to pull that off
the xj unibody isnt as weak as everyone seems to think

 

so you unbolted the doors? thats why they arent shutting correctly anymore. you need to realign them for proper seal.

 

they need to be realigned. i wheel the **** out of my jeep with no doors and they bolt up fine every time. like i said it just takes some realigning.

 

x3 if you unbolted them they need to be realigned.

 

This is not correct. The doors mount on hinges and seal with injection molded seals that are made of rubber or EDPM or whatnot. The doors contribute nothing to structural integrity.

That said, fitting doors back in the day our XJs were built was a hand-fit process. Each door is fitted, to a small degree, to the opening. How they do this, I do not know. Maybe a good body man can throw down on this.

 

it's what i've heard all around the forum....you're one of the first people i've heard say otherwise.

 

i say the same so thats 2. the door is pretty much suspended in the opening. the door opening frames are what gives the structure.

 

Trust me...the doors provide zero structural support. They work just the same as a door in your house. As RoyalXJ noted, doors are just suspended in the opening.

I was not being critical and apologize for being kind of abrupt in the way I worded my response.

It's easy to think of a door as being structural in a car because they close with such authority and seem so secure but it is the A, B, C and D pillars that give a car structure. The A pillar is the front one - where the windshield is mounted. The B pillar is the one just behind the front doors. The C pillar is just behind the rear doors and the D pillar frames the liftgate. This is all on a four door XJ. All of the pillars tie the roof to the floorpan and complete the "cage" structure.

Done gently with no shock loads, you could stand an XJ on it's roof and open the doors.

 

here is what you need to do, it is how i put my doors back on. Mount the door, which you have already done, but only slightly tighten the bolts. Then remove the bolts on the back of the fender, then the fender can be kind of pulled outward. then put 2 or 3 layers of towel over your door jamb. Then slam the door shut, the towels will raise the door up. You then may need a friend to help hold the door in the proper place. Then if you pull out gently on the fender and stick your head in the wheel well you can look back and see the door hinges. Those holes in the door hinges are there so that you can tighten the bolts with the door closed. Tighten bolts and your done. Good luck

 

Well, I'm no guru, I was just sayin what I've heard! Monkey see, monkey do, ya know? Haha no hard feelings.