The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Interiors Door Locks

My passenger side door on my 56 has a door button with a lock. It presses in and out OK, locks OK but when you push the button in it doesn't release the latch. I have to open the door from the inside.

The driver's side has a blank button. So I've ordered new locks (both doors) from Chevy Duty. Anyone ever change the locks? Anything I should look out for??

Thanks!

easy job if the screws that hold the handle in aren't siezed - just watch out, cuz it's easy to drop those screws down into the door when putting'em back in!

Bill

thought that was the way it's to work :confused: :confused:

I put new handles with locks, from Chevy Duty, on my 54 ... they work great!

Check the button action from the inside ... see what the knoby-thing hits (or doesn't hit) when you push the button in. I think you'll get it working with a few minor adjustments.

Installed the new lock cylinders yesterday.... went pretty smooth (except getting to one of the screws... a real pain). I did discover that the doors actually have double locks... that is, if you lock the door from the inside, you can't unlock it with a key from the outside. My pass. side still had troubles... couldn't get it to release latch... turns out it was the inner lock causing the problem so I just cut off the little tab. The end result is that I won't be able to lock the door from the inside but will at least be able to use the new keys.

I'm about two weeks away from truck launch!

I'm having the same problem with my 55' chevy truck not opening all the time. I believe the knoby - thing like horvath calls it is worn so bad on the end as you press the door button there seems to be a lack of travel to unlatch the door from opening?

Let's see... the door button has this small rod attached to it (maybe 1/8" dia)... the old one was a solid piece the new ones are two pieces sandwiched together. On my 56, the driver's door lock was original (with no outside lock). The passenger side had been replaced. I didn't find the little rod on either door worn that much that it wouldn't push on the tab to release the lock. It'd have to be pretty worn to shave off that much.

BUT what I did find on the passenger side (the door that was giving me trouble not opening fronm the outside) was that the little tab that the little rod pushes against was getting hung up.

I think there are two solutions to the problem...
1) Buy a new inside mechanism
2) Cut off the little tab like I did. The only big downside is that I can't lock the door from the inside now. Need the key on the outside. But at least I can now open and lock her up.

By the way, Option #1.. I think you still end up with a double-lock problem as I described above in prev. post

My doors are the same -- if you lock 'em from the inside, you can't UNlock 'em from the outside. That's because the key-locks simply prevent the knob from operating, whereas the inside lock (pushing the door handle) does a completely different deal.

The door knobby-thing pushes against a tab (inside the door) ... if the knobby-thingy-deal is worn, I would BEND the TAB that it pushes, so it's closer the the knobby-whatchamacallit-thing.

LOL! I'm a great communicator, ain't I?

I understood exactly what you said Alan... scary.

So my question is: Can I put the passenger side door handle or lock or the driver's side (since the drivers side does not have the key lock on the outside) and will it work?

thanks

Jeff

Jeff - does on the 55-59 trucks fer sure

Bill

The push-button handles (52-early 60s, at least), can be swapped side-to-side. A competent locksmith shop can re-key a button to match, so you don't have to buy new locks. This doesn't cost much.

54-59 ... you can switch the handles, but it'll work backwards!

The push-button locks; no problem.