Door Stopper Repair

Hey Dudes and Dudettes, are you annoyed that your freaking doors won't stay open for you if you're just at a slight slant with gravity working against you? If so, this repair will show you how to renew the "fixators" in your door stopper mechanisms so you will now have doors that stay open for you.

This job was done on a 3rd Gen 4runner but the steps will be very similar for you 1st Gen Tacoma folks. I do know from experience separating the door panel is a bit different. Your arm rests don't pop up. You guys actually have plastic covers you need to pop off to expose the two Phillips screws so you can separate the door panel from the door.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/u2LCa9WRYe0

 

This video demonstrates removing a 1st Gen Tacoma door panel for those that want to see how the Tacoma door panel is a bit different from the 4runner door panel.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/78yoVyTRUHU

 

Technically called a door "checker"

 

Well, the whole mechanism is called a Door Checker. The plastic pieces are called Strap Stoppers. So, are we repairing the stoppers or the checkers? We're repairing the Door Checkers by replacing the Strap Stoppers. At the end of the day, it fixes the problem so your doors stay open.

 

The passenger side is functionally a direct replacement for the driver side, with one exception. The hinge point that attaches to the door frame will be flipped, and makes the plastic cover useless. In either orientation, the arm is aligned with the center of the bolt. In fact, the plastic arm is marked for either right or left use. My logic is that probably the passenger side has seen far less use, and may still be viable. So head on out to the pick and pull.

 

I need to do this repair. Both my doors have swung open freely since the day I bought it in 2016, was with my 8 year old nephew last weekend and he opened my passenger door right into the car next to us with the guy standing right there. I was pissed, but I also realize most people have working door stoppers so I couldn't be too mad at him.

Thanks for the video, definitely going to reference it when I get around to this.

 

Yeah, you'll be stoked when you get it done. The doors won't swing open wildly with very little force and they will stay open.

 

I have a tacoma 2006 and the part that holds the above bracket to frame came right out of the hole. I have the whole piece and took bolt out so not to damage anything but what do I use to reinstall so it will hold door properly ty

 

You might find more help in the 2nd gen forum.

 

any cheap Door Checkers yall have found?

 

Parts Geek, you are talking about a Door Check I believe. Part number for a 1999 toyota Tacoma is 8219-02262468. $24.95

 

I just used a punch and put a couple of dimples on each side of the silver body. Worked good and only cost $0.00.

 

The OEM parts are actually quite a bit more than that, but I don't see an alternative to buying the full OEM door check given the suppliers of the quality repair kits are all in Russia and no longer selling.

Door Checks

68610-04010 door check right

68620-04010 door check left

 

Pics?

 

My dealership service dept referred to this at a “door brake” and wanted $150 for just the Front Left mechanism

 

Be like me, just jam a local slippah inside there folded hamburger style

 

These worked fine for me.

$20 Front Door Check Right Passenger Side for Toyota Tacoma New

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09TVG12VP?ie=UTF8

 

Thanks! Was looking for new "Fixators" to repair my door checkers, per the Timmy the Toolman video, but could not locate any. I sure was not going to pay $90+ for new checkers either. I just gave Amazon $24.07 for your linked item, thanks again!

I'll just use sebz13 's method if it doesn't work out

 

I went ahead and got the new OEM ones for about $70 a piece online. Which is a lot but since the repair rubber is impossible to get and the squeak was driving me crazy I went for it. Night and day. The door when it’s open is TAUT. Flags open full and at half mast even on an incline so you don’t have to reflexively think about it whacking you. They’re super turgid compared to the doors with the 23 year old rubber plastic checks.

 

Cool! I'm looking forward to getting rid of the floppy door and the squeak as well. I don't understand why they don't make these units accessible from the outside. Maybe when I get into it I will see why.

I'll update later on how well the el-cheapo versions work, for the benefit of others. I just bought a single one and will receive it this week.