My elderly neighbor bent the driver's door on his '03 Ram Van conversion and I foolishly offered to help replace it. I'm hoping the hinges took the rest of the force and not the "A" pillar.
I'm having a dang hard time finding ANY parts diagrams or how-to videos to offer clues what to look for in replacement doors from salvage yards.
What years could I consider as a replacement for his '03? After a quick look at car-part.com it seems '98 - '03 ???
Are all driver doors the same for vans in that period?
For example - He has electric window, lock, and mirror.
Do I need to be that specific when looking for used doors, or can I simply swap out an old mechanical window regulator, etc from a salvage yard base-model van and upgrade with his electric components?
Will the window glass be different for hand crank vs electric?
Any search that I've done for a door seems to be very focused on the style of mirror --- including anything with a Hollander interchange number in the door description.
Can I swap mirror heads to re-use his electric unit, or will I be stuck with whatever is on the salvage door?
Any help and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

How was the door damaged? Pictures if you have them. I dont know the particulars on that year of van, but if the year ranged from 1998 to 2003 all the factory parts should bolt the the used door. I day factory because conversion company sometime haphazardly bolt and screw components where they will fit. If you have these item you do the same on the replacement door. If the door has aftermarket items that yours does not, leave them off. What needs to be avoided are doors with damage, rust, or areas of the inner door that have been cut or removed to make room for these aftermarket items. This doesn't happen often, but you should be aware it might.

 

Thanks for responding.
The van is 100 miles from my primary residence and I don't have pictures at this time.
He stopped next to his rural mailbox and thought it was in Park, but instead in Reverse.
As the van moved backward with the door open, it apparently caught the mailbox post and bent the door -- probably the hinges -- and hopefully not the A post.
The door apparently moved forward enough to cause a small tear at the bottom of the fender, and also bending it a bit.
The door is now closed and doesn't seem to leak in rain, but not usable or acceptable for annual state vehicle inspection
I'm hoping a replacement door and hinges will solve most if not all these problems.
The Elk conversion looks like it includes plastic cover at the lower end of the door, but I'm not familiar with Dodge products to have any idea what is stock and what is add-on.
Any search for used doors seems to rely heavily on the type of mirror -- single or double head, manual or electric.
It seems some vans were more "commercial" use and had a version of west coast mirrors rather than a flag style. Is this what is meant by double or single head?

 

Looks like doors are the same from 99-03. Not sure what the differences in mirrors are. I would think the door shell itself is still the same...

Chances are good the A-pillar is damaged as well...... be prepared to address that.

 

Somehow he managed to get the damaged door to close without a lot of difficulty, and it actually latches -- sorta....

Can anyone provide links to sites where Dodge body parts are clearly shown and described?
I'm accustomed to research on my 03 GMC Sierra and 09 Suburban, but Dodge has me stumped.

 

Most any parts site will show you doors. Whether the pics are any help or not, is another thing entirely. There are a variety of Mopar sites out there, with illustrated catalogs, (as most point to the same database anyway, just with a slightly different presentation....) You can pull a fair bit of information from those, mainly year range that will fit, (if you want to go used....) availability of new, etc. Dodge wants some serious bucks for their door shells though.... I am thinkin the used market would be the hot ticked. Car-part.com can show you who has the potential to have them available, but, call the yard directly, to find out for sure.

 

Currently looking at Moparpartsgiant website and they only show one left door for this series of Dodge Ram Van part mopar 55346545AD, of course it's discontinued, but inserting my friend's VIN the site indicates it fits.

So far I'm right with you in using the car-part bone yard website.

At least now I think I won't have any issues with a basic door compared to the damaged one with all the bells and whistles to swap over as needed.
I'll try to avoid a door with the external bracket west coast style mirror configuration just to eliminate more holes we won't need.
I'm guessing that is what's meant by double head.

It's really odd that none of the mopar websites popped up when you type "Dodge Parts" in a Google search.
Type in "GM parts" and the screen is filled with vendor options and workable websites for research.

 

It's google..... Sometimes the results are anything BUT what you would expect.