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Unlike me, my truck's driver side door swings freely. 

Usually this isn't a problem, until I need it to say open on our upward sloping driveway, like when I'm working on something under the dash. 

My solution so far has been a couple of bungee cords from the door handle to the wheel, but I would like to figure out what's supposed to be doing this job and fix it if possible.

 

Is there a bracket inside the door or something that presses on the bar going into the door that holds it open?

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Yes it’s called a door check. It should be mounted in the middle of the door if you’re looking at the hinges. If there’s no bar there at all, it’s been removed and there should be a bracket bolted to the cab frame where the bar sits with a pin that holds it in place. 
The metal construction of the checks isn’t great and over the years resulted them to break inside the doors. 
these can be had new or used. Much better to go new. Though there is a way to convert the rear checks of an XJ to the front but you need the bars from the front to do that. 
 

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On 3/4/2024 at 2:30 AM, eaglescout526 said:

Yes it’s called a door check. It should be mounted in the middle of the door if you’re looking at the hinges. If there’s no bar there at all, it’s been removed and there should be a bracket bolted to the cab frame where the bar sits with a pin that holds it in place. 
The metal construction of the checks isn’t great and over the years resulted them to break inside the doors. 
these can be had new or used. Much better to go new. Though there is a way to convert the rear checks of an XJ to the front but you need the bars from the front to do that. 
 

Like eaglescout526 said... I thought the Cherokee one were all identical, so I took the rear ones from a junkyard XJ 'cause they looked pristine, but then found out once bolted to my Comanche that the bars were too long...  So I swapped the "bars" and all is well. The process is easy enough with basic tools and self-explanatory once you get to take a look at the part.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I found out why my door won't' stay open today.

I noticed that the bar was just loose in the door, it wasn't attached to anything.

So I wanted to inspect the situation, see if it was a repairable situation, before I got a new check.

 

I took out the speaker and there was something sitting in the bottom of the door.

Turns out it was part of the door check, and it had been there a while too.

 

At some point the old one had self-disassembled.

579401371_20240407_145612-Copy.jpg.3d82a0ee39a632e7a16719eeacd18a3f.jpg

 

My son's a welder but I don't think there's any rescuing this.

 

Time to go shopping I guess.

 

I have to wonder though, if a lack of grease or lubrication might cause the bar to grab or something else to seize and cause this failure.

Or maybe it's just cheap metal plus bad design.

 

 

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2 hours ago, pizzaman09 said:

 

How has it been holding up for you? The amazon reviews on newly made alphabet-soup brand versions point toward catastrophic failure after 6-12months.

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Apologies, points of clarity questions...

 

1) Aside from the length/ shape of the bars, XJ front and rear checks are otherwise the same as each other?

2) If #1 holds true, the 97-01 XJ checks are preferred, due to their 'rubber cushion included' design?

3) MJ bar can be swapped into either 84-96 or 97-01 XJ checks, front or rear, with the same result?

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45 minutes ago, Salvagedcircuit said:

 

How has it been holding up for you? The amazon reviews on newly made alphabet-soup brand versions point toward catastrophic failure after 6-12months.

I actually haven't installed it yet but it appears to be high quality.  If it works at all it will be an improvement over what I have.  It is made by crown automotive which I've purchased several parts from and been very pleased by the quality.

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12 minutes ago, pizzaman09 said:

crown automotive which I've purchased several parts from and been very pleased by the quality.

Just don’t buy their grill parts and you’ll never be mad at their quality haha. 

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20 minutes ago, eaglescout526 said:

Just don’t buy their grill parts and you’ll never be mad at their quality haha. 

I'll keep that in mind!  I quite appreciate the parking brake cable and speedo cables I purchased from them.  

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17 hours ago, cruiser54 said:

Go grab one off a Cherokee in the junkyard. From the passenger side....

 

My son has gone picking for his old F-150 and said he hasn't seen any Cherokees. 

I've called around and can't find any either.  They're rare birds at this point.  :(

 

But regarding your advice... since I rarely carry passengers I was debating just robbing the one from my passenger door.  

I need to open that door up anyway to figure out why the window won't roll all the way down.

 

11 hours ago, pizzaman09 said:

I'll keep that in mind!  I quite appreciate the parking brake cable and speedo cables I purchased from them.  

 

I read some reviews that said the Crown one's bolts were about 1.5 mm too far apart for the stock holes, and some reviews said they didn't hold up anyway.

That said, I've been running a Crown brake booster over a year and it's been fine so far.

 

Ultimately I went with a used door check from ebay though (currently in the mail).

 

I'd be curious to know if the Crown one bolts right in.  

I'm thinking the rubber stopper version would make for less jarring and a more durable piece.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

New 20240422_195613.JPG.90b1fcae039a96d9e1246389c22dc1b4.JPG

My old piece was toast.

 

20240422_195623.JPG.83b6916a5b7833e3d5b5a01505a99e51.JPG

The new one from crown appears to be nice.  I did find that the bolts were a bit too close together but it just fit in the holes so it technically bolted right up.  

 

Once I get my door pins replaced I'll let you know how it works.  

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