door holder opener

[brucecooner]

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?

[eaglescout526]

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. 
 

[OldSch88L]

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.

[cruiser54]

I've done that numerous^^^times. 

[brucecooner]

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.

 

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.

 

 

[eaglescout526]

Nope it’s just cheap thin metal. 
 

Mopar still makes them….course that was 5 or 6 years ago when I replaced mine. 

[cruiser54]

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

[pizzaman09]

I just purchased a new one from Quadratec.

https://www.quadratec.com/p/crown-automotive/front-door-check-arm-assembly-jeep-cherokee-xj?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwq86wBhDiARIsAJhuphmeebs7tqB-CG9wUx6d1mzOKJ7hZ6A6l_4v_2lOqc-oZ2gB3pBLJhgaAklbEALw_wcB

[Salvagedcircuit]

2 hours ago, pizzaman09 said:

I just purchased a new one from Quadratec.

https://www.quadratec.com/p/crown-automotive/front-door-check-arm-assembly-jeep-cherokee-xj?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwq86wBhDiARIsAJhuphmeebs7tqB-CG9wUx6d1mzOKJ7hZ6A6l_4v_2lOqc-oZ2gB3pBLJhgaAklbEALw_wcB

 

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.

[Gojira94]

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?

[pizzaman09]

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.

[eaglescout526]

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. 

[pizzaman09]

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.  

[brucecooner]

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.

 

[cruiser54]

There's a difference in years also. 

[pizzaman09]

New 

My old piece was toast.

 

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.  

[brucecooner]

How'd it go @pizzaman09 ? 

 

Did it fit?

I read reviews that said the new Crown "OEM" ones don't mount to the original holes by about a mm requiring drilling out the door, so I just bought a used one off of ebay.

I totally disassembled it, took the little wheels out and greased everything up.

It was apparently from a back door but once I figured out how to defeat the spring it was easy to swap in the bar from my broken one. 

 

 

The bracket and pin on the body had no wear (because they haven't had to do any work in a long time) so kept them.

 

The new-old one I got still creaks like a door in a haunted house despite my efforts at lubrication, but at least my driver's side door doesn't bonk me all the time on our sloped driveway now.

 

I haven't popped the window crank back on since I want to remove the panel again and dry lube the lock mechanism.

But I've been wondering if there is another or aftermarket replacement for the stock cranks.

I feel like I've only got so many removals of the crank before the plastic tabs on the back break and then I guess it's down to faith and friction keeping them on.

Looking at the little splined axle though, it doesn't look like there's an option for a set screw or anything to hold a different crank.

 

Removing the door panel made me miss my '99 Ranger.  On that one you removed like three screws (one in the crank) and the door panel just lifted up and off. No fuss, zero tabs to break, all doors should work that way.

 

[pizzaman09]

47 minutes ago, brucecooner said:

How'd it go @pizzaman09 ? 

 

Did it fit?

I read reviews that said the new Crown "OEM" ones don't mount to the original holes by about a mm requiring drilling out the door, so I just bought a used one off of ebay.

 

 

It went great, was a bit stiff for the first few days but now opens and holds the door very nicely.  Again I agree with the comments that the studs are a bit close together on the Crown part, but I was able to get mine installed without opening up the holes in the door.  

[brucecooner]

7 hours ago, pizzaman09 said:

 

It went great, was a bit stiff for the first few days but now opens and holds the door very nicely.  Again I agree with the comments that the studs are a bit close together on the Crown part, but I was able to get mine installed without opening up the holes in the door.  

The way mine creaks, I might be in the market for another one in the future, so good to know these are a viable option.  Thanks for the update.

 

[cruiser54]

don't wait until the metal in the door fatigues and cracks. 

[brucecooner]

18 hours ago, cruiser54 said:

don't wait until the metal in the door fatigues and cracks. 

I'm wondering if I did something wrong when I reassembled the check.

I greased the little axles the wheels are supposed to roll on, but it still creaks and pops. 

 

And a properly functioning one should be quiet.

I didn't grease the outside of the wheels, I assume they are supposed to roll along on the bar, otherwise you're scraping and wearing down the metal.

I wonder if the spring is so strong there's too much compression between them and the bar, keeping the wheels from turning.

But this is out of an old cherokee, presumably oem, so I'd think it should work.

 

 

[cruiser54]

Lube it up!!

[pizzaman09]

18 hours ago, brucecooner said:

I'm wondering if I did something wrong when I reassembled the check.

I greased the little axles the wheels are supposed to roll on, but it still creaks and pops. 

 

And a properly functioning one should be quiet.

I didn't grease the outside of the wheels, I assume they are supposed to roll along on the bar, otherwise you're scraping and wearing down the metal.

I wonder if the spring is so strong there's too much compression between them and the bar, keeping the wheels from turning.

But this is out of an old cherokee, presumably oem, so I'd think it should work.

 

 

Do you have any slop in the pin where it connects to the body?  Those can bounce making some noise.

 

Also when I replaced mine with a brand new check, it creaked for a few days until it kind of wore in a bit.

[brucecooner]

On 5/13/2024 at 6:26 PM, pizzaman09 said:

Do you have any slop in the pin where it connects to the body?  Those can bounce making some noise.

 

Also when I replaced mine with a brand new check, it creaked for a few days until it kind of wore in a bit.

There's no slop at the pin, that bracket/pin went unused for a long time.

 

I listened more closely today, and it makes two distinct noises.  There's the general high pitched squeak, but as the bar works through the wheels there are two distinct pops, as if something is catching for a bit, and then jumping.  May be associated with the fact there are two notches on the bar.

I tried to grease the little wheels when I had it out, I'll just have pull the door panel off and hit it with some oil, see if that helps.

[cruiser54]

Just spray some grease on it with the door open.