Hello Forum,

I have a 96 Dakota V6 w/ Club Cab. My passenger door has been broken since I bought the truck a year ago and have always had the door tied shut! Now it's time for inspection and I need to take care of this.

Here are the details:

When the door is opened, it comes out of line with the car
Is this a problem with the door or the hinges? Do I just need to replace the hinge pin? Or if I get a new door will this not be an issue?

The pin that the latch clasps on may be bent as well. Is this easy to replace?

The entire locking/clasping mechanism is very damaged and the door cannot clasp/close at all-- So I think I should just replace the whole door.

If I replace the whole door, what years/ models will be compatible?

Thanks All!

 

if you go and replace the door you can use any door from 1987-1996. And you can use any door from a standard cab or a club cab from 1987-1996.

 

Mr. Moparnut
It appears my door latch is broken. The plastic part that attaches to the strike is frozen in the up position. Is it possible to just replace just the latch unit. It looks very difficult to disconnect the connecting rods from the inside and outside door handles.

Thank you
Charlie

 

It is a pain to replace the door latch! I did it about a month ago.. I took the window out completely, as well as the window regulator in order to get access to hook up all the latches. There are posts on here on how to take the window out. Everything else is pretty self explanatory. The only tip I would give you is to make sure you get all the screws out before you try to remove the window molding/tracks.

On second read... you said the LATCH not the HANDLE
So I think that wouldn't be so bad. Its kind of hard to see back there, but you can take the bolts out and get a little better sight.
Still might be easier to take the window track out, so that is out of your way..

 

The striker pin that the door latches too SHOULD be an easy replacement. As long as you have the right torx bit, it is a fairly large one. there will be a plate behind the metal that it screws into. I know that some vehicle manufacturers weld this plate on and some do not. However, I cannot remember if dodge does or not... if they don't then you would have to take an interior panel off to hold it in place.

As for the alignment of the door.. It could be a few things. It could be the pins are bent or worn out. The hinges could be bent or just not properly tightened to the chassis. There are also shims that you can buy to align your door that just go behind the hinges.