The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Door handle placement

So there i was,heading home after picking up one of my "treasures",read daughter,and i'm making a left turn,when halfway thru,the pass. door flew open.Scared the begeezus out of my girl,gave me a few more grey hairs.No harm to truck,but,it got me to thinking is there a right way or a wrong way to put the handles on?

Roy

Unless the handle was bumped, causing it to open, the position is simply personal preference. If it opened without being bumped you have larger issues to deal with.

Never had that happen to me (YET) but I don't know how many times I have said "Hands off the Door Handle" to one of my treasures.

The handle on '47-59 trucks should go down and slightly forward.

mine give me fits when closing on my 57. only once did that happen to me, the door flying open ona turn, and when i get a chance i will install bear claw latches on mine.
getting tired of having to have my inside handles just right, then press the outside button like 5 times, then close the door.....

leonard

As a teenager dating I used the old, "that door flies open many times. You might want to mover over away from it" narrative. That usually worked every time.

I have the door locked when My Kids or Grandkids are in with Me makes Me feel alot safer.

Pete

Thank you all for the input.I'm going to move them around,but also check and see if anything is amiss.
Roy

Have it set so when you make that turn, and they grab the handle, that it moves to the locked position and not to the opened position.
I fell out many times as a youngster because when my dad made that left turn I would pull up on the handle and open the door.
No brain damage that has been noted at this time.
Did I mention to adjust the handles?

It sounds like some of the surprising door openings may have been caused by:

1. A loose latch/catch?
2. Grabbing/pushing the door handle at the wrong time and inadvertently opening the door?

Having the optional/accessory arm rests might help in some situations. You would grab the arm rest, not the door handle?

Also, during the 1948 model year, the action of the inside door handle was reversed, supposedly making it more easy to operate. From 48 onwards, the door handle was pulled to open. Was this change made for safety purposes (or, did it result in surprise opening of the door when the handle was/is grabbed when going around a corner or when coming to a stop)?

If the door opened by itself, putting it in the lock position will not make any difference. This would be caused by a loose door, flexing cab, bad lock or a combination of the three problems.

As they say, "there are many ways to skin a cat", and in this case one solution would be to install seat belts.

Made me think back when i was a teenager my dad had a 48 that the door would fly open on so when i had the truck out a buddy knew the door was going to fly open and had a good grip on it and would swing out hanging on the door and freak ever one out ...aww the good old days of young and dumb ...!!!

A cautionary note from across the pond - when I first took my 49 pickup on a test run the exact same thing happened - ah loose latch / catch i thought - NOoooooooooo - the chassis was cracked on both rails and the gearbox cross member was in three pieces - only the cab holding the whole thing together - only found this AFTER buying, but in fairness very difficult to spot, hey ho that's life. Now looking forward to driving it after a full rebuild.
All the best.
Andy