E-Z Door Latch Repair

[OLD DODGE]

I took one of my trucks out to the monthly local mud bog gatherings and the driver's door popped open on more than one occasion. It hadn't happened before but I figure the twisting of the truck through all the ruts caused it to pop open. It was more embarassing than dangerous so I decided to fix it.

The latch in the door was worn. It is made up of two laminations of steel and the outer one was worn off. I had stripped a couple of doors a few years ago so I went rummaging for one of those latches. I found it and of course it was worn also. Since I already had one in my hands I decided to repair it and then swap it out with the one in the truck.

Here is what the worn latches typically look like.

[OLD DODGE]

I glass beaded and welded the latch, but the first step was to make a pattern before hand by placing a piece of cardboard between the housing and the latch itself. I then spray painted lightly to give me a shadow of the good portion of the latch just in case something happened during welding. I ended up not needing it because the welding went well.

[OLD DODGE]

Then I ground the welded portion to match the good portion that was left. I left a little extra on because it wouldn't interfere with anything. If it were for a show truck you could put more time into grinding it to not show any flaws.

[OLD DODGE]

All that was left was to exchange it out for the one in the truck. The window and mechanism had to come out for that. I greased it and installed and then shot some paint on it. You should also check for broken springs while you're in there. It cost me nothing but time. A couple of days later I noticed Vintage Power Wagons sells reproduction ones for around $175.00 I think. If you don't have the cash to spare this repair works great.

[OLD DODGE]

One last final note. The donor latch was from B-1 and is held in place with fine screws. The truck I was working on is a B-3 and the latch had coarse screws. I didn't notice till the screws wouldn't go back in. I swapped the screws for the matching ones.

[jsiebert]

Thanks for the tip Kevin. John

[chriscase]

I did mor ethan one of those repairs.

Souldn't there be shims under the catch on the cab? Spacing that outwards would allow both layers of the latch to grab.

[OLD DODGE]

Souldn't there be shims under the catch on the cab? Spacing that outwards would allow both layers of the latch to grab.

I thought of that and it would work, but none of my trucks have any. That kind of thinking is too modern for these trucks ;^)