Later door panels on earlier doors?

[Irfangnosis]

I need to put some rust free doors on my 98, and all I am finding are earlier than 96. I saw the pics on door differences. Just how hard is it to put 98 door panels on earlier doors?
What is involved? I have skills and tooks but I just want to know what i am up against.

 

[someotherguy]

I've done it; the only real issue I ran into is the newer door shells (95-up) have an indentation where the inner door module (or "door card" as some call it) attaches, IIRC it's a slight bit of clearance for where the inside door handle slides in. You could simply force the handle gently or get creative with a hammer, vise grips, etc. bend the skin a tiny bit. The difference in the shell itself is not significant.

You may run into trouble with the outside door handle as it may not fit properly. I've debated this to no end with a few people but the fact is the newer door shells have a slightly larger door handle opening and the newer handles made up for it by having a thicker plastic surround "gasket" which is attached to the handle, so, be aware of that.

I'll also add that I've had the best luck door swapping as close to year model as possible, in terms of overall fit. I'm no body man but I'm decent at adjusting doors on GMT400's; sometimes if you get too many years apart in doors they just don't fit right no matter how hard you fight them. YMMV

Richard

 

[Irfangnosis]

I've done it; the only real issue I ran into is the newer door shells (95-up) have an indentation where the inner door module (or "door card" as some call it) attaches, IIRC it's a slight bit of clearance for where the inside door handle slides in. You could simply force the handle gently or get creative with a hammer, vise grips, etc. bend the skin a tiny bit. The difference in the shell itself is not significant.

You may run into trouble with the outside door handle as it may not fit properly. I've debated this to no end with a few people but the fact is the newer door shells have a slightly larger door handle opening and the newer handles made up for it by having a thicker plastic surround "gasket" which is attached to the handle, so, be aware of that.

I'll also add that I've had the best luck door swapping as close to year model as possible, in terms of overall fit. I'm no body man but I'm decent at adjusting doors on GMT400's; sometimes if you get too many years apart in doors they just don't fit right no matter how hard you fight them. YMMV

Richard

I havent found any sets yet. I found a good passenger door and he said 96 but the truth is it came from a 96 truck where every panel was a different color. the "door card" (new term people are using) looks a lot more like my old SS454 pickup.

Will my lock cylinder fit in an earlier door?

 

[someotherguy]

I havent found any sets yet. I found a good passenger door and he said 96 but the truth is it came from a 96 truck where every panel was a different color. the "door card" (new term people are using) looks a lot more like my old SS454 pickup.

Will my lock cylinder fit in an earlier door?

This is where it's really stretching my memory; last time I did any messing around with lock cylinders and door handles on a 400 was more than 10 years ago. I want to say when the change from smooth to textured handles came about, the orientation of the cylinder changed, requiring a pawl change (or you could really hack it by flattening the bend in the pawl and flipping it over, I think I recall doing that once or twice), and perhaps when the "single key" change happened in 1995 I'm not sure if the cylinders swap between old/new handles. Sorry; memory too vague on it. They probably fit, but it's just a guess.

Richard

 

[Irfangnosis]

This is where it's really stretching my memory; last time I did any messing around with lock cylinders and door handles on a 400 was more than 10 years ago. I want to say when the change from smooth to textured handles came about, the orientation of the cylinder changed, requiring a pawl change (or you could really hack it by flattening the bend in the pawl and flipping it over, I think I recall doing that once or twice), and perhaps when the "single key" change happened in 1995 I'm not sure if the cylinders swap between old/new handles. Sorry; memory too vague on it. They probably fit, but it's just a guess.

Richard

Thanks. i think ishould keep looking for 96 and up

 

[someotherguy]

Thanks. i think ishould keep looking for 96 and up

They'll fit better with less/no wrangling than older doors, that's for sure. Also you stand a somewhat better chance of finding doors with less "miles" on them so there's a possibility the hinge holes will be in better shape. The holes for the bushings are usually OK but the non-bushed hole where the small end of the pin goes gets egged-out and needs to be welded up and re-drilled, ideal time to do this while the doors are off the truck. Or, if you put them on and notice the issue then, you can gently jack the door up with a block of wood underneath, and tack a small amount of weld from the pin to the hinge so that it doesn't move (sag) but you can still reach in there to grind the tack out later if you need to pull the pin for bushing (or door) replacement.

Richard

 

[Irfangnosis]

They'll fit better with less/no wrangling than older doors, that's for sure. Also you stand a somewhat better chance of finding doors with less "miles" on them so there's a possibility the hinge holes will be in better shape. The holes for the bushings are usually OK but the non-bushed hole where the small end of the pin goes gets egged-out and needs to be welded up and re-drilled, ideal time to do this while the doors are off the truck. Or, if you put them on and notice the issue then, you can gently jack the door up with a block of wood underneath, and tack a small amount of weld from the pin to the hinge so that it doesn't move (sag) but you can still reach in there to grind the tack out later if you need to pull the pin for bushing (or door) replacement.

Richard

THANKS, PM sent.