How do you stop the side door rattlling?

Howdy all,

My '63 van drives just fine - but the side doors rattle so much, that the pleasure.............is somewhat diminished.

It's been a little difficult to drive and analyse the source at the same time.

Is this a common problem, and does anyone have the remedy for this most annoying of complaints?

Thanks & regards,

Rhys

I have seen anti rattle kits on ebay before, just looked nothing listed right now. I'll keep a look out for you

Thanks G-Man!

I was literally signing on to ask this very question! The rattling drives me NUTS!

Rattles can sometimes be traced too loose nuts and bolts, handles and handle operating rods hitting each other.The rods originally had a cloth covering to help keep noise down,checking these things might help you out.

I don't have a pic of them, but there are (for lack of knowing the correct name) "anti-rattle" pieces that are held on with two screws that go one the top and bottom of each door where the latch rods go through. My newest van had never had them installed on the side doors, so I took a set off of a parts van and installed them. Rattling doors eliminated! If nobody has a pic, I'll try to get one tomorrow. I'm headed to "Cruise Night" in a neighboring town.

Thanks guys,

Fatkid: We are brothers in suffering.

61Econoline: All bolts, nuts & handles pretty tight.

Crowen57: There is a screwed plate top & bottom that the tongue protudes through. Looks standard. This (if a tighter fit) would do some to remove sideways play of the tongues.....which might help a bit with the rattles.

Very keen to see some photos of solutions. In the mean time I'll take some photos of my setup.

Regards,
Rhys

Howdy,

The front of the two side doors appears to be the main source of the rattles, so here are pictures of what I've got -

Top of front door



Bottom


Inside door skin


Some of the rod mechanisim exposed (with aftermarket centrall locking installed by PO)


I can see how new door seals might help a bit. But most of the noise seems to be coming from the rod mechanisim.

Regards,

Rhys

That's pretty much what the inside of my doors look like as well. I was hoping that there was a bushing or something to replace, but I couldn't see any evidence of one existing originally. Does the service manual show a bushing here? (I still need to buy mine )

I had this problem with mine. I adjusted the plates top and bottom that the rods lock into, so that the doors were tighter shut. This completely eliminated the rattles from the side and rear doors....
Sy

Did you adjust the plates on the body or the ones on the doors? I am really eager to try this out.

[quote="rhysaccess"]Howdy,

The front of the two side doors appears to be the main source of the rattles, so here are pictures of what I've got -

Top of front door



This is the piece I'm talking about. See where it is broken? Replace this part and the rattle will probably be gone. Worked for me!

Some fuel line should work perfect for the rods. I have spring loaded door poppers on mine because I have the door handels shaved. Somthing like that or a rubber bumper should fix any door movment.

That's cool. I may have to make some of those clips. My doors aren't loose, but I bet wrapping the rods would probably help anyway.

Howdy,

Solved the problem today - with a bit of a cheat.

There was no adjustment left on the catches that the tongues slide into - so appeared that new door seals would go a long way to resolving the problem. But I'm a way of the new seal idea as I have other things to do before I replace a heap of seals (one buy & shipping from the US).

I cut some rubber strips and glued them on the body on the contact area for the door seals. This has taken out the play and produced a decent snug fit. No more noise.

Easy to remove the strip & glue later when I put on new seals.

I can hear some other noises now.....but at least I can isolate & find them. It's like driving a van from the '70's now - not one from the '40's.

Picture of the strip -



Regards,
Rhys

I like the clip idea donivan!

On my doors, I found that guide was loose and allowed the pin to rattle. The two halves of the rectangular guide inside the door are just crimped. I had to cut the door and weld a couple spots. However, it's noisy again due to lack of a good seal. Will be performing the same treatment as you did Rhys.

I bought my 65, 4 hours away and had to drive back with no radio and started out with lots of door rattle. I placed shop rags over the door latches and closed the doors and had no rattles on my journey, although I had to sing to myself.
Temp fix, but easy and effective.

donivan65 wrote:This is what Chevy uses,,,,,,spring steel inserts that go in the body then the striker plate bolts over it,,,,,,,,a finger, like presses against the wedge part of the door rod and keeps it from rattling. I would take some electrical tape and wrap each wedge one at a time and see it the noise goes away just to isolate the problem,,,,,,,

These spring steel inserts work basically the same as the ones that came on (or were added to) Econolines. The Econoline spring inserts definately work, unless they are broken!

When i first got my Econoline there was ALOT of rattling in the doors. Most of my noise seemed to come from the rods. I took small bungee cords and attached them to the rods about mid point so they pulled on the rods to take the slack out of them...that helped alot but was still getting some noise....then i decided to get rid of all the rods, handles etc.... and do this..

http://www.ford-econoline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=226

Im not sure how many of you ever go to that site. This site seems alot more involved.

Cheers,
Vic in SoCal

I check that site every week or so, but it is sadly too quiet....
Not found anywhere better than on here....

Sy

That site could be a great source of infor for Econoline owners, but sadly it's not watched too closely and is over run by spammers, porn sites and other non van things

Army of Six wrote:When i first got my Econoline there was ALOT of rattling in the doors....then i decided to get rid of all the rods, handles etc.... and do this..

Cheers,
Vic in SoCal

Vic,
Nice job on the side doors, and shaving the fronts!

your problem is the bottom lock, they are ratting because they have too much play, just replace the door seals with 3/4 in. foam weather striping and it will make a tight fit. I know that it sounds like a shitty way to fix it, but if you have any damage to the doors, the $125 weather striping kit will not work, with the foam weather striping you can put more than one layer on it, i had to do that with my back doors because they are bint as shit!