1951 3100
For what it's worth, mainly for those that are doing this, or have it in the works to do.....
Purchased new latches and strikers, for my 1951 3100, (Drivers side had the old latch and striker when I bought the truck a couple of years ago, nothing on the passenger side). Won't say from who, cause they are all coming from the same place anyway.Got the doors hung, leading gap good, rear gap good, beltline good, (didn't say that it was easy, but that I did get them lined up). Weatherstrip on the door glued on, everything looks good, doors shut, both lined up,...thinking this is great. Installed the latches and strikers......won't latch tight. Safety latch catches, but door will not latch tight. Slam them, push hard on the door, ratchet strap them together, won't latch. Tinker with them, very small adjustments with the hinges, very small adjustments made on the strikers, no change, nothing. If anything, may get a little worse. Shimmed the strikers in, out, side to side (very little adjustment here), nothing. Decide to leave them alone, work on other stuff. So, every weekend for the past 4 weekends, would tinker with them a little, try different things, lose a (LOT) of patience, go on to something else. Will say this about the new latches.....they work good clamped in my vise, although both were a little stiff actuating, they worked.
So after a little research here on the site, decided to clean up the driver's side old latch and striker I have, and robbed the passenger side latch and striker off my spare parts truck. Blasted both latches and strikers in my cabinet, soaked them in my parts washer, all looked good, worked properly. So, I installed both sides, and needing zero adjustments, both doors shut, shut tight, latch tight, just like they should. What the....??
All this being said, there are probably some that have used new latches and strikers, everything worked, lined up, latched the first time. In my case, wasn't happening.
Newer ain't always better.............
Mike
