The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Doors 1950 Door Latch Failure

I have a couple of near heart stopping incidents when making a right had turn and having the door fly open. Fortunately there is a steering wheel to hold on to but the first time it happened I was totallyunprepared and was halfway out the door.! I now drive with the door locked but still worry about it. I have lubed the door latch mechanism with Kroil and cleaned all the built up gunk on it but there is little to no improvement (it does lock easier). When I shut the door, even slamming it, there is some amount of movement in and out, maybe about 1/16" All my door rubber is original and quite ragged and I don't know if that would help but think that the latch is just not doing its job. Any suggestions on how I might fix this?

New latch and striker plate.............but the reproduction stuff can be problematic. This has been a known problem for 70 years. My wife fell out of relatively new '50's pickup when she was kid. There is a really good reason this type of stock latch was redesigned.

Seat belts and Altman bear claw latches.............

http://www.triquemfg.com/altman-easy-latch-for-1947-51-chevy-truck/

That said .........There are several posts on latches, adjustment and rebuilding of the stock latch in the door section.

If the latch has released more than once, it is seriously worn, or have a broken spring or 2.
1. you can't fall out if you're wearing your 3 point harness. I've driven a lot of vehicles with no doors.
2. Repro latches are mostly junk. They don't use the original cam and tooth design, but are made to latch on over center only. That makes door adjustment difficult and will pop open if they don't quite make full over center.
3. Good rubber keeps the door rattling and putting stress on the old style latches.
If you can afford them, bear claws are great.
I've bought new (junk) latches, taken out the springs and the lever (the only other useful part in the latch) thrown the rest of the new ones away and rebuilt the originals if the teeth on the cam aren't worn.
Or buy up used latches, take them apart, clean and carefully inspect and decide if they are good or more pieces for for another rebuild.
They do work well if nothing is broken.

The failure of original latches is due to worn hinge pins from lack of lubrication. This leads to gradual, un-noticed door sag over time and many opening and closing events. This sag causes misalignment of latch and striker, causing damage to both until the latch becomes too deformed to function. This damage can be corrected by straightening bent parts and welding worn metal back on. A right door latch makes a good pattern to work with to determine what metal needs work, since it normally is in much better shape from less usage.
Carl

Thanks for the responses! There is a bit of play in my hinges and I admit that I do not remember ever lubricating them Last year I did add weld to my striker plates (the part that is screwed to to the body) and then carefully ground it back to flush and that may have helped a bit. I guess I have to look into bushings for the door hinges too. The bear claw latches are pricey.

No need for bushings usually. Most times over-sized hinge pins will fix them.

I agree but in the grand scheme of things what price is your safety?

There are cheaper bearclaw options but they require considerably more fabrication work (welding,paintwork etc) so relatively speaking the Altmans aren't that expensive as they virtually bolt in and they're much less invasive to install.
Even more so if you factor in paying a shop to install the cheaper,weld in type.