The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Doors 1951 door latches

Both of my door latches seem to be pretty well worn out.

Curious - seems to be a consensus that the repops are crap. What specifically is the issue with them? They function poorly? Soft steel that wears out quickly?

Been casually keeping an eye out for better uses ones or NOS. NOS are scarce and spendy if you do find them.

I know the Altman bear claw solution is probably the best. I just don’t want to modify things that much and not really a fan of losing the internal door locking function.

So….are there ways to repair/rebuild my originals?

Nathan, by chance have you gone through this "Legacy Tech Tip" Door Latches For 1947-51. There is a very detailed explanation on the function and how to improve the latch through some cleaning/lubing. There is also a tip about how to improve the factory latch security that may help you out.

I have new old stock ones I bought from a Chevy dealer in Arkansas about 40 years ago along with new GM striker plates. They were not cheap then. Those have been fine but I think the doors have been used less often than they would have been during the first 20 or 25 years of the pickup's life. This is a good question, actually. When these door locks wear out (and I know latch is the commonly used term but lock is what these were originally called), it seems almost everything wears out simultaneously. By that I mean the metal of the striker and pawl piece wears out, the springs relax, the rotating tolerances all change and even the frame pieces seem to lose integrity. But in a moment I'll tell you something I learned.

I'm with you 100% on not wanting to modify to accept the bear claw type...even though it would be a better design. One thing that will help with door closing is to get the right thickness of weatherstrip. The original seal GM used was softer when new and was just a shade less than 1/2". The stuff being sold by all the usual suspect vendors is 11/16" and that simply won't work right. It may relax over time but it will take a lot of time and it requires a lot of door slamming or having your doors stick out by a noticeable amount.

Why aren't the repop ones okay? A friend bought some a couple of years ago and they were pretty good, but not at first. They seemed to not be doing well until he replaced the striker plates with new ones and that made a larger difference than either of us expected. Especially for the 1952 and newer ones, there's an important balance and the striker plates are a large part of it. It is also not easy to measure the amount of wear on them. Comparing the old ones to the new ones it seemed there was between 1/16" and 3/32" of wear and that made for some notable sloppiness. Might be the same for the older ones. Good luck!

I have completely disassembled turn down handle door locks (GM terminology for door latch) and was able to restore them closely to new condition.
They were pretty beat up caused by sagging doors from worn out hinges pins from lack of timely oiling.
It required me to also disassemble a passenger side lock which are generally in much better shape due to less use. I could then determine how much metal had worn off, or had been mangled by the striker from slamming the misaligned door.
It was a meticulous operation, but the end product was very rewarding.
Completely disassembling is necessary in order to remove rust between parts and to be able to lube everything properly for smooth operation.
I have a TIG welder which I can make something out of pretty much nothing if I know what it is supposed to end up looking like.

The tech tip was pretty helpful. I am familiar with the clips it recommends. Good to know they might actually work. Just need to make some time to get things pulled apart and inspected.

I recall someone talking about the square peg to square hole getting worn round. The handle to latch connection. Can’t remember if it’s the handle or the hole that wears. In my brain, that’s what I have going on. The handle only makes the latch turn at the very last bit of its movement.

To Jon’s comment about the weatherstripping: Mine is still original and not in awesome shape. It’s definitely not holding the door too far out. If anything, it’s too flattened out.

I’m quite certain that at least one of the two strikers needs replaced. Visible wear.

You can find 7/16" weatherstrip at The Filling Station. Steve (who works there) and I worked with Steele to make this maybe 6 or 7 years ago. It isn't cheap but it is the best thing out there. Getting new extrusion dies made is costly...extremely costly and we've learned several people will simply buy the cheapest weatherstripping they see without checking dimensions at all.

7/16" will work very well. 15/32" might have been more perfect but it is a very fine line, it was just going to cost too much and we couldn't afford it, so we had to opt for an existing Steele die that could be refreshed.

The more you increase the thickness from 7/16" the more exponentially difficult it becomes to close your door. The 11/16 stuff (being sold by all the vendors) is made using dies that have been around since the 1950s. It was a universal product originally made for passenger cars and specifically it was a weatherstrip design used for trunk lids...not doors. JC Whitney and others started selling it because it was cheap...and the 11/16 stuff would work for doors on certain vehicles. All 1958 GM passenger cars for example. Worked ok for those and up through about 1965 and then the new style of weatherstripping came along. The hollow stuff that sealed much better and allowed doors to close really easily. We tried to get that made for the AD trucks (thinking the greater ease of compression would help the AD doors) but the guy at Steele reminded us the hollow type was made to be used in conjunction with the new style door locks...which we don't have here. But we did try.

Good luck. The striker plates as I mentioned in my friend's case made a lot of difference, but the 1952 strikers are a different design. You don't think something like 1/16" wear would matter much but it sure did. After replacing locks and strikers his doors closed very nicely.

For future reference, looks to me like the thinner door seal material is part # 70-331 at the Filling Station.