Gaps are bad…
Once the door was mounted, I could see that I had a problem. From the inside of the truck I could see light coming in around the edge of the inner door near the top on the side opposite the hinges. The distributed pressure of the weather strip was flexing the stiff heavy door away from the frame and in places the weather strip wasn’t even touching.
After some thought I pulled the inner door down again, wedged it under the front bumper of my car, put some wooden blocks under it, and started jumping up and down on it. Yes, the neighbors think I am crazy. The idea was to slightly bend the door, to pre-load it against the pressure of the weather strip. I had to remove and remount the door 2 more times, but I finally got the bend just right. The weather strip was fairly evenly compressed all around. At that point I decided that the rubber weather strip alone wasn’t going to be enough.
I went to the hardware store and got some polypropylene weather strip, the type that has sticky tape on one side and folds back on itself to make a sharp V. That was easily installed between the door and the jam and didn’t significantly resist the closing of the door. I mounted it to the door, not the jam as you usually would. I figured it was less likely to get damaged that way. It is just to reduce air infiltration but is not intended to keep water out. I also added a drip rail above my new door in a door, and above the original 2 barn doors. These were made from 1 1/12 aluminum L channel, 1/16” thick. The idea is to make a tiny awning that sheds water away from the top of the doors so it won’t ever get a chance to try and make its way past the rubber weather strip.
All of this completed the rear door, at least from the outside. There is still some work to be done to make it look nicer on the inside, and to better insulate it, but at least it’s weather tight and secure. From the outside it still looks like an industrial truck door, at least at first glance. Anyone who looks twice will notice the door knob and the extra heavy framing on the left side, but mostly it’s very forgettable, which is what I want. Building and installing the door up was another month or so. Nothing happens quickly when you have a more than full time job and other obligations.
The finished inner door opening is 65 ½” x 20 ¾” with a 2 ½” stepover to the inside of the truck. That will be reduced to about 1 ½” once the inner floor and insulation are installed. If I walk up to the door opening standing tall I can just about brush the top of my head on the underside of the jam. As a practical matter I have gone in and out of that door hundreds of times now and never bumped my head, but I am only about 5’8”. If you are taller than me, you will need a truck with a taller box so you can install taller doors.
When you walk up to the door from the outside it is way up there. It’s about 23” to the step bumper and another 23” to the bottom of the door opening. Surprisingly, I find it is not difficult to get up there as long as I have at least one hand free. I just grab the door jam, preferably with both hands on either side, and pull myself up and through in one quick motion. Coming out is not really difficult either. Just step out until both feet are on the step bumper, and then step down to the ground. I imagine that a rain or ice slicked step bumper would make this all quite dangerous, so I will have to look into some fold out steps eventually, but for now its not a problem.
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