Door Off - What to re-seal with?

[tnscoots]

Hey Folks,

After all the resto work I've been doing on my '98 Ranger, I still find water on the floor at rear. So I took the door off and after removing all screws it popped-off rather easily. What it was sealed with was 3/4" weatherstripping, the peal and stick kind, light gray, so me thinks it was closed cell. There was water on some edge surfaces of the door so I suspect that it had been removed by previous owner who used the wrong stuff to reinstall. A rotted floor is what began the restoration in the first place, so I must get this corrected before laying down any flooring. I should use Byutl tape or rope caulk, correct? Please chime in soon - and Happy New Year to all.
Tom

 

[WaltK]

Hey Folks,

After all the resto work I've been doing on my '98 Ranger, I still find water on the floor at rear. So I took the door off and after removing all screws it popped-off rather easily. What it was sealed with was 3/4" weatherstripping, the peal and stick kind, light gray, so me thinks it was closed cell. There was water on some edge surfaces of the door so I suspect that it had been removed by previous owner who used the wrong stuff to reinstall. A rotted floor is what began the restoration in the first place, so I must get this corrected before laying down any flooring. I should use Byutl tape or rope caulk, correct? Please chime in soon - and Happy New Year to all.
Tom

The new door I got for my Eagle from FWC came with foam tape already applied. It was only adhesive one side so can be removed just by taking out the screws. And so far, with lots of heavy rain in the last month no leaking. And I did not put the upper weather guard on either. As I was putting the door on using an adapter layer the other layers I used foam weather seal tape and in more exposed locations a second layer of silicon/acrylic calk.

Here's the thread I did on the door install.
http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/index.php?/topic/6905/

The original door on my 2007 Eagle also was mounted with one side adhesive foam weather seal mounting tape very similar to what I used. It, too, was not leaking, I replaced the door to add a screen door.

You might want to go over the whole area very carefully before assuming the door is the source of your leak problem. At minimum make sure and clean all the sealing surfaces when you put it back together.

Near the lower back of the Eagle I did have some sign of water getting in around the trim strips around the staples and screws which were plated type and rusting. That was attached with calk tape, which was not holding a good bond everywhere. I'm mostly not replacing the staples and any new fasteners I'm putting in are stainless steel. Eventually I'll replace all external fasteners with stainless, even any staples I use as I have those in stainless too.

 

[JohnF]

Butyl tape over caulk rope/tape always.