Worn Out Rear Door Checks - Cheap and Durable Fix

Ever since I took possession of my Sequoia, the Rusty Redwood, the rear doors have not stayed open at all. As anyone who has had a failed door check knows, this situation is annoying verging on dangerous. However, with over 400,000mi on the clock, the front door checks work just fine. I recently went to the Pull-A-Part intending to get some replacement rear door checks and solve the problem for a while. Every one of the seven first gen Sequoias on the yard had worn out rear door checks. But most of the front checks seemed good. Wut da hek?!? So I pulled two reasonably tight front door checks and headed home to experiment.

I noted three differences between the front and rear door checks:
1. The rod part of the front check is shorter.
2. The box part of the front check is fatter.
3. The rod part of the front check is noticeably thicker than the rear.



I decide based on the fatter box in the front check that there must be something more robust about these front checks. I installed a front check in the rear door to see what would happen. The box part fits fine (studs align with the holes in the door). It's just way too short and the door barely opens. Ok, so we need to find a way to make a hybrid check.

Cut the pin retaining the box on the front check with a grinder and pull the box off of the rod. The rear check box is retained with a little notched plate that comes right off when twisted with pliers. Now that the boxes are off of the rods we can see that the rear boxes had plastic nubs that put pressure on the rod. These are worn completely away. The front boxes, on the other hand, have metal rollers to accomplish the same task. No wonder the rears wear out and the fronts don't. Install the front box on the rear rod. I was able to push one on by hand, had to give the second one a good strike with a hammer to overcome the tension of the rollers. Reinstall the notched retaining plates on the ends of the rods and reinstall in the door.

Rear box:



Front box:



Finished hybrid check with discarded parts for comparison:



Even though the rear rods are thinner than the front rods, they work fine with the front boxes and my rear doors now stay open. The one I could reinstall by hand stays well at the fully open stop, but not so much at the half open stop. The other stays nicely at both stops. I believe this is because I grabbed the drivers and passengers front checks from one vehicle--I'd recommend getting two passengers if you can. Either way, the still-functioning front checks on my rig suggest they can't wear too fast. Enjoy rear doors that stay open for another 400,000 miles!

- Luke

 

Right one looks like it's missing something? No mounds.

 

It does have mounds, they are not as pronounced as those on the left (front) one. But they are enough for the rollers to grab and keep the door open nicely!