genie144
Member
This is nothing new and has been covered before... I am posting this just to provide information for those that may not know. Feel free to add any additional information you might have.
Purpose: The door seal on the trucks deteriorates over time from repeated opening/closing, heat, and humidity. This allows a significant amount of road and wind noise to enter the cabin. The mod uses the factory seal to create a better/tighter seal.
Material Needed:
Tubing
Thickness: 1/4"OD-3/8"OD
Lubricant:
Electrical Fish Line
Second set of hands
The type and thickness of material used will depend on your personal taste and environment.
Surgical Tubing:
Pros: Pliable - easy to shut door.
Cons: Pliable - prone to dry out and crack in hot dry climates.
Poly-Vinyl:
Pros: Stiff - easy to lubricate - not prone to fatigue
Cons: Difficult to shut door
Plastic:
Pros: Is there any????
Cons: Brittle, easily cracked/broken
Quantity:
Thickness: The thickness I would recommend is based on material type. If you select surgical tubing I would do a 3/8" OD tubing to get the best/tightest seal possible from the flimsy material. If you do poly-vinyl, I would recommend 1/4" OD as the 3/8" OD makes shutting the doors VERY difficult.
Lubrication: It is not necessary to use lubrication, but as with most things in life a little goes a long way... I have used dawn and baby powder. If using latex - use the baby powder. The latex absorbs the soap and it takes quite a bit to do any good. I recommend baby powder it is easy and ends up leaving the truck smelling better. ADDITIONAL NOTE - compressed air can be used to help push tube through seal when bound up (pstroke96).
The process is pretty straight forward:
As far as the second set of hands. It is possible to do this yourself, however a second set of hands makes it painless and quick. My oldest daughter (2 years old) helped me with the first door seal and it took ~10 minutes. My wife helped with the remaining 3 doors and it took ~25 minutes.
I have a baseline dB reading of the truck before and after using both my iPhone and an actual dB meter. I need to consolidate the readings into some useful data and will post later. At first blush, I am guessing that there is a ~1-2 dB reduction. I can tell you that the difference is obvious. I used 1/4" poly in my 1996 and was happy with the results. I did 3/8" poly-vinyl in my 2002 and that tubing is big and thick (yes that is what she said
). It is a much better seal, however the doors are too difficult to shut. I am going to give it a few weeks and see if the tubing softens up with the heat and becomes easier to open/close. If it doesn't, I will buy some 1/4" for the passenger doors and see what that does. Unfortunately, I did not have a chance to take any pictures but will post some this weekend.
Sam
Purpose: The door seal on the trucks deteriorates over time from repeated opening/closing, heat, and humidity. This allows a significant amount of road and wind noise to enter the cabin. The mod uses the factory seal to create a better/tighter seal.
Material Needed:
Tubing
- Poly-Vinyl
- Surgical Latex
- Plastic
- Anything Else
Thickness: 1/4"OD-3/8"OD
Lubricant:
- Baby Powder
- Dawn Soap
- Use your imagination
Electrical Fish Line
Second set of hands
The type and thickness of material used will depend on your personal taste and environment.
Surgical Tubing:
Pros: Pliable - easy to shut door.
Cons: Pliable - prone to dry out and crack in hot dry climates.
Poly-Vinyl:
Pros: Stiff - easy to lubricate - not prone to fatigue
Cons: Difficult to shut door
Plastic:
Pros: Is there any????
Cons: Brittle, easily cracked/broken
Quantity:
- Crew Cab - ~55 Linear Feet
- Extended Cab - ~40 Linear Feet
- Regular Cab - ~28 Linear Feet
Thickness: The thickness I would recommend is based on material type. If you select surgical tubing I would do a 3/8" OD tubing to get the best/tightest seal possible from the flimsy material. If you do poly-vinyl, I would recommend 1/4" OD as the 3/8" OD makes shutting the doors VERY difficult.
Lubrication: It is not necessary to use lubrication, but as with most things in life a little goes a long way... I have used dawn and baby powder. If using latex - use the baby powder. The latex absorbs the soap and it takes quite a bit to do any good. I recommend baby powder it is easy and ends up leaving the truck smelling better. ADDITIONAL NOTE - compressed air can be used to help push tube through seal when bound up (pstroke96).
The process is pretty straight forward:
- Remove Door Seal
- Put Fish line through Seal
- Tape tube to fish line
- Have second set of hands pull through seal
- Use 1 hand to lubricate tube and other to help push
- Wipe down area for door seal
- Reinstall Door Seal
- Repeat
As far as the second set of hands. It is possible to do this yourself, however a second set of hands makes it painless and quick. My oldest daughter (2 years old) helped me with the first door seal and it took ~10 minutes. My wife helped with the remaining 3 doors and it took ~25 minutes.
I have a baseline dB reading of the truck before and after using both my iPhone and an actual dB meter. I need to consolidate the readings into some useful data and will post later. At first blush, I am guessing that there is a ~1-2 dB reduction. I can tell you that the difference is obvious. I used 1/4" poly in my 1996 and was happy with the results. I did 3/8" poly-vinyl in my 2002 and that tubing is big and thick (yes that is what she said
). It is a much better seal, however the doors are too difficult to shut. I am going to give it a few weeks and see if the tubing softens up with the heat and becomes easier to open/close. If it doesn't, I will buy some 1/4" for the passenger doors and see what that does. Unfortunately, I did not have a chance to take any pictures but will post some this weekend.Sam
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