The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Doors 49 Panel front door latches

Hi

Neither drivers nor passenger doors will latch all the way

First latch catches but not second

Latches actuate by hand

Doors will not close to flush with cab and I cannot see anything holding them back

Door seals are mostly gone

Any advice?

Thanks

The only ones that stay with the factory latches are people wanting to kill their kids for insurance money. The Altman bear claw kit is pricey but worth every penny. With that rant over with remove ALL the latch pieces and see if the door fits the hole and body profile without the latches in place. If not your problem is in the hinges.

Did Altman ever solve the non-locking door issue?

No, they haven’t. I’ve installed three sets and there is no ability to lock the doors from inside, without installing electric locks. I did not install electric locks because there is the potential of not being able to unlock the doors if accident happened and you lost electrical power.

That being said, I love their product due to the safety advantage and the ease of door closing. A bit of work to install them but pretty straight forward procedure. They have excellent customer support.

On my 51 I did install an exterior key lock on the drivers door so I could lock each door from the outside if need be. I live in rural Nebraska and have never locked the doors. Probably more of an issue for folks living in metropolitan areas.

Try moving the striker on pillar in the opposite direction than what would make sense to you to make the door latch right.
Try this no matter how stupid you may think that I am.
Get back to us when you find that this solved your problem (or to confirm that I am indeed stupid).

Thanks guys!

You can’t lock the Altman latches?

JW51,

That’s correct as far as the interior door handles are concerned. You can’t move the interior handle and lock the door.

The locks work normally with the key actuating the locks from the exterior.

There are provisions to lock the doors using electric door locks if you chose to add them.

You’re right

They are pretty proud of their latches

Coilover there are many days I’d like to kill my kids but my wife would be mad about it

52carl

I’ve not yet been able to confirm or deny your intelligence and besides if I can’t figure a door latch out I’m not worthy to judge

Couple more things to try and I’ll report back

Good thing this project pays hourly!

Not sure if this will help, but there's a whole lot of DOORS info (including latches) in the Paint & Body section in Tech Tips. Ten of them.

Thanks

Got them to latch

Lots of adjusting oiling etc

In the end the biggest help might have been removing old door seal

Hoping new seal is more pliable

Appreciate everyone’s help!

Jack,
I am assuming that you now have the door in place without the door seal, and it latches now and your door fits the way you want it, correct?
If so, do yourself a big favor. Drill a 1/8" holes through the inner skin of the door, all the way through the hinge straps. Use a brand new, high quality drill bit to make a perfect hole. Make sure that the windows are rolled all the way up!
This will make it possible to reinstall the door to the exact location after you remove the door, reinstall the new door seal, and reinstall the door. You can use a 1/8" drift punch to align the door to the hinge.