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Durango-nology
A compendium of information about the Dodge Durango. |
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Body Exterior And Systems
Door Systems and Sealing Door and Liftgate Structure Doors are assembled from full-stamped inner and outer panels adhesive bonded and hemmed together. Doors overlap the sills, eliminating a visible sill gap and helping to keep road splash off the inner sills. Outer panels are made of medium-strength steel to resist denting. Stamped, one-piece, high-strength, low-alloy side-guard door beams also reinforce the door latch attachment. Door inner panels are stamped from dual-thickness laser-welded sheet metal. The forward portion of the panel, to which the hinges are bolted, is more than twice as thick as the remainder of the panel. This contributes to hinge mounting stability and a solid door closing sound. The inner panel is lighter than a single-thickness panel with a welded reinforcement. One-piece aperture panels in the body sides facing the doors contribute to consistency of door fit. Door lock pillars are boxed below the belt line to enhance striker mounting stability. These multi-purpose assemblies also support the shoulder belt turning loops. Like the doors, the liftgate inner panel is stamped from laser-welded, dual-thickness sheet metal. This provides a liftgate structure that is lighter, simpler and more accurate than a traditional reinforced, multi-piece assembly. Heavier-gauge material in the upper half of the panel ensures ample strength while allowing a larger rear window for good rear visibility. |
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Door Mechanisms Wide, low-profile outside door handles combine with recessed escutcheons to ensure clearance for large gloved hands. The handle return spring is attached opposite the latch lever, balancing loads to help make operation easy. Handles and escutcheons are molded in black, glass-reinforced nylon that has a grained finish designed to resist wax buildup for continued neat appearance. Inside door handles are readily accessible at the forward end of the door armrests. They curve inboard for ample finger clearance and pivot vertically for easy operation. Each handle nests in a trim bezel that is assembled to the trim panel, rather than the door inner panel to provide accurate alignment and eliminate a visible fastener. The handle and bezel are black with all interiors. Large, rectangular manual lock buttons, which ride in pockets molded into the trim panels at the belt line, are easy to grip. A bright red arrow on the inner face of each lock button is visible when the door is unlocked. New-generation door latches provide even smoother and quieter operation than those used on prior Chrysler vehicles, which were themselves among the best in the world. The latches maintain the features of the prior generation: low effort in release and closing accompanied by high strength. Plastic and plastic-encapsulated steel components assure quiet operation. Solid steel components are used only where required to ensure strength and durability. A loop striker on the body offers a "friendly" surface that is unlikely to snag one's clothing. With optional power locks, the lock motors are integral with the latches. This helps minimize manual locking and unlocking effort because the key does not turn the locking motor. Integral door-ajar switches are a feature of the new latches. They operate both courtesy lamps and the door ajar indicator in the instrument cluster. Window Mechanisms Semi-flush door glass and a unique glass-run design provide best-in-class appearance and minimize wind noise. Along the top and front of each door, the sealing lip of the molded rubber glass run is completely concealed by the door frame. At the rear of the window opening, a cantilever lip on the run presses against the glass to ensure a positive seal and present an aerodynamic transition to the door frame that helps minimize wind noise. When the window is rolled down, the lip folds into the opening for a neat appearance. Manual window regulator handles are located high on the door for easy access. Their black low-profile handles have large matching molded knobs with knurled outer diameters for easy operation. The door trim panels are sculptured for clearance to the manual regulator handles. Lightweight cable and drum window regulators on all four doors provide smooth operation. The same basic mechanism is used with both manual and power windows. With power windows, which are expected to constitute 87 percent of production volume, the manual crank is directly replaced by the motor. A molded plastic slider driven by the cable raises and lowers each window. A vertical post that has the same curvature as the glass guides the slider. A steel lift plate bonded to the base of each window attaches it to the slider. Bonding, rather than bolting, the lift plate to the glass increases the stability and strength of the assembly. Front and rear channels inside each door provide additional guidance. See Secondary Controls under Body Interior. Liftgate Mechanisms Weather Stripping A body-mounted tubular weather strip encircles each door opening to provide primary sealing against wind noise and water leaks. Three additional weather strips enhance door sealing. A body-mounted weather strip with tandem tubular sections runs up the windshield pillar and across the tops of the doors for wind noise reduction. A lip-type weather strip attached to the leading edge of each rear door above the belt-line prevents wind noise and acts as a sight shield. A tubular weather strip attached to the back of each rear door between the top and the belt line also handles wind noise. A lip seal attached to the bottoms of all doors keeps road splash off the inner sills and blocks wind and road noise. The door weather strips have inboard lips that overlap the interior trim in some areas of the openings to provide continuity across the interface. The liftgate is sealed by a full-perimeter tubular weather strip attached to a raised flange surrounding the opening. An additional weather strip across the top of the opening between the hinges helps prevent water that might accumulate above the perimeter weather strip from entering the cargo area and also helps prevent wind noise. The liftgate weather strip includes a secondary tubular section that presses against the interior trim to provide continuity across the interface.
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