The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Door latch installation

I would like to replace the drivers side door latch mechanism on my ‘54 3100. I eyeballed the situation and decided to try to get some understanding of it before diving in.
Can those parts be swapped out with the window guide in place?
Is the interior mechanism joined to the exterior one, or do the just line up?

Looking for some guidance before I venture into terra incognita.

A new latch mechanism should have 3 bolts holding in place.
If the window channel is in the way(Shoud not be), hopefully
you can move it.
Whats wrong with the old one?

Door takes considerable pressure to close and engage. All efforts to improve that have been futile. The latch mechanism seems rather worn , has some play. I was hoping that a new mechanism would improve the function.
(Passenger side closes beautifully, probably has a lot fewer cycles.)

I can't see how it can be removed without first removing the glass and window channel. I hope I'm wrong as I think I might have to do the same. In my case, moving the catch on the door post slightly outward helped.

Gord, most times than not, window up, lower channel bolts/screws loosened or removed. Should give enough wiggle room to remove a latch. Last one I did was a 2016 F150? And they put all kinds of crazy stuff in there along with pieces of plastic that want to break and dumb cable releases. Plus, Ford built in a lot more opportunities to get cuts on your hands. In places you didn't know your hands can be cut!

Actually, I take that back. Last one was a '65 Ranchero. My company buys WAY too many Fords. Maybe they felt me thinking that because some new '23 RAM 1500's started showing up.

Don`t count on a new one to be better. Remove the old one and check how the door closes for resistance.
Drag on the striker and rubber can cause adjustment problems.
Check latch operation with door open.

Ok, it's doable without removing the window! But have the band-aids ready. Thanks.

Don't forget to check out our very own Basic Door Latch Info Tech Tip and Door Latch and Strikers How-To Install and Adjust Tech Tip.

Both should prove helpful in your door latch repair.

Dan

Dan -
That second piece is very informative - I now feel as though I have a basis upon which to proceed. I read it 3 times over my first dose of wake-up coffee ; there’s a lot of nuance and detail in there. It seems that the sequence of adjusting the striker is key.
After morning chow I will try adjusting the existing striker as per that procedure, see if I can’t get that driver’s door to work smoothly like the starboard side one. If I find I need to install the new parts I now know that the window guide gets loosened but the glass mechanism stays in place - that’s a relief!

THANKS for the lead.

A reminder to do a quick search on that Tech Tip main listing page. I use "control F" to pull up a box. In this case I typed "latch" in that box and there were the two. (Plus I just happened to come across them yesterday when working on the Tech Tips so it was fresh on my mind. )

It's not a bad idea, in general, to roam down the entire list (it's not that long) to see what kinds are things are covered. In the early days of the site, we didn't have them in categories. As things grew, we realized the need to have them broken out. As it grew even more, within the categories, we needed the important stuff together. You can see a lot of that iteration in the Body Work segment, where we have BED, Cab Dolly, Door, etc. before the actual tech tip title. (We weren't ready to break them down much further yet.)

And now, Tech Tips are moving into the Shops Areas as sub-forums. You've seen a few already and we have over 20 in the queue being worked on / over! Stay tuned!

Hope this is helpful.

Well , that was a learning experience.
The repro parts are not exactly reproduction. (Surprise)
The new latch and striker are in a different range of adjustment. I learned from the tech tip that proper lowering of the striker is really important , otherwise the latch won’t trip the way it should. I had to ream the mounting holes to get the adjustment range I needed.
I did find out that the latch can be removed/ installed with the lower end of the window guide detached and the guide otherwise left in place. Window up for the whole operation.
The only thing connected to that latch mechanism is the transfer bar from the inside door handle; the handle assembly has to be removed to accomplishing that. (I haven’t installed my upper interior door panels yet , so that was easy.)

Trouble is , after going through all the trouble of installing the new latch I couldn’t get the second stage of latching to engage. I took the unit out of the door, examined it a second time and arrived at the conclusion that it is junk!

So… the original unit and striker went back in. By applying my newfound adjusting skills I was able to achieve marginal improvement in function with the old hardware. Having spent an entire morning trying and failing to get repro hardware to work I will be sending it back. I don’t trust that a replacement will be any better ; probably will apply credit towards some other part.

The old door mechanism works better than my replacement knee , so I guess I’ll just learn to live with it.(the door, that is). I learned a lot from this exercise, and there was minimal blood loss, so it wasn’t a total waste of time.
I guess.

End of report.

Thanks for the follow up.

Post script:

“Don’t count on a new one to be better. “
These words were spoken by guitplayer.
He sure nailed that one.

I wish it weren't true. I have run into that with hood latches as well.
Sometimes parts from the new can help the old.
It does not take much adjustment with the striker to
get the latch to set right.