The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Doors Putting 1952-55.1 Doors on a 1948 Cab

I know the doors from the late model A.D. trucks will fit on the early model A.D. trucks. So my question is on the striker mechanism bolted to the cab. What is, if any is the difference from early to late model striker plate area. I like wing windows and I have some later model doors I’d like to stick on my 48. What do I have to do to that striker plate area to make them work properly?… joe

A close inspection and precise measurement of both strikers and the pockets in the latch pillars of both models would give you an idea of how to make it work.
I suspect there will be differences.
One option would be to cut the latch pocket out of a later donor cab and weld it to your cab and use the later striker.
Another option is to buy Altman latches.

There's at least one thread on this forum about this.

The striker plates for 1947 - 1951 are different from 1952-1955.

Look at the catalogs of the usual suppliers to see the difference.

Joe - Here's what I found looking through a couple of resources, as well as some pics of my own ('51) 3100 drivers door latch pieces, that may help explain the differences between the earlier ('47-'51) and later ('52-'55.1) AD door latches.

From what I can see the mounting locations for the door latch and cab door opening striker areas are the same for both early and late designs. The later design allowed for some added vertical strike plate adjustment with the elongated screw holes on the strike plate itself, while the in/out striker plate adjustment with the slightly moveable screw anchor plates remains mostly the same.

You definitely must use the corresponding latch and striker plates for the desired years as early and late don't mix and match. So '52 and later latches means '52 and later strike plates. Don't forget you'll have to change to the later push button style (instead of turn down) outer operating handle which, I think, requires some mounting hole changes.

Note the picture of the bright red cab drivers door striker plate area is provided to show the recess without the strike plate installed. It's reportedly from a '52 Chevy cab and shows the slightly adjustable mounting plates the strike plate gets attached to.

To sum this up, I don't think you need to modify/change anything on the strike plate mounting area to make the later design mount or work correctly.

Thanks Dan, hopefully you’re correct. It would be great if all I have time do is change the striker plates…joe

If you can get '51 doors, you won't have to change hardware and you will have your wing windows (ventipanes).

Kent

The trouble with looking for '51 doors is that they're a one year item, so a lot less available than other years, either 47-50 or 52-55.1. That's not to say that they're not available, just harder to fine.

Too many, you said you already have some later model doors. What year doors do you have?

52-55.1 …..joe

I visited KCMongo's shop today and gathered some direct source pictures from earlier and later cabs/doors to help with showing the differences (yes there are some as Joe said) between the 1951 and earlier and 1952-55.1 strike plate mounting recess on the cab door openings, as well as differences in the latch mechanism and strike plates.

I need to sort out and title the pictures before posting, but will work on trying to get them up for all to see later tonight or tomorrow morning. More to come...

PS - Joe I have good news to share from Steve on sourcing your needed items. I'll contact you separately to give you the details I have.

So after sorting through and creating some comparison picture sets below, it's clear that there is difference in the cab strike plate recess mounting area between the 1951 and earlier cabs and the 1952 and later cabs. The later cabs recess is a little deeper for the strike plate mounting surface as well as the channel where the latch slides into the strike plate. The overall recess size top to bottom and front to back are pretty much the same, just deeper.

In addition to there being a difference in the strike plates, there is a clear difference between the earlier and later latches, both in function, design and depth of the latch. As well as a difference in the latch to door mounting hole locations (the upper mount hole in the later latches is toward the inner face of the door where the earlier latch upper mount hole is located near the outer face of the door).

Hopefully this gives Joe what he needs to pursue hie door change out.

Thanks for the great information you shared! It should be incredibly helpful.

I have a follow-up question regarding striker plate compatibility, specifically for the original poster (OP) and any future questions of this nature. Would you be able to determine the following:

• Can a striker plate designed for a 52-55.1 recess fit into a 46-51 recess.
• Conversely, will a striker plate designed for a 46-51 recess fit into a 52-55.1 recess?

I'd really appreciate it if you could look into this for us.

Thanks again for your time and expertise!

The difference in latches is immaterial if he already has the later doors, but what he'll need to do is splice in the later strike plate mounting area into the lock pillar. Probably actually easier to do than to adapt a later lock to an earlier door. Although I don't know why someone would want to put earlier doors on a later truck.
To answer Phil's question, it looks like the later strike plate has a longer vertical spacing between bolt holes, so even if the strike plate would fit in the recess, you'd have to deal with the hole spacing. It looks like the later strike plate has some of the workings forward of the lock pillar surface, so might fit recess-wise.

Phil - Next time I have an opportunity to go check out the many trucks at KCMongo's I'll try and do a test fit to see how the different strike plates fit. It'll probably help him remove some of those very rusted in place plates in the process.

I'll report back afterwards.

There are allot of builders that install AC and want to eliminate the wing window, as they think it improves the look. Not me as I love the nostalgia and functionality of the wing windows.

Another option would be to install Bear Claw latches, a substantial safety improvement.