92-97 door mechanism retrofit

I don't know if most of you guys have as many miles on your OBS trucks like I do with mime, but Ford in their infinite wisdom decided to make the door latch mechanism a wear item on this generation truck. I've been doing this retrofit for some time on towtrucks (they see the most amount of door use in a year) and just had to tackle this on my CC with 270k on the odo. What wears out is the cable that connects the pull handle to the latch. I've found that ford won't sell you the cable itself, you have to buy the whole assy for $140. Nope. Not me.
What do you need to do for this conversion? Find a 80-91 f-series door and gut the actuator handle, the latch and the all the linkage rods attaching to the latch. Not a difficult job, watch for the razor sharp sheetmetal openings and the three screws holding the latch to the door shell is usually loctited in. Do keep track of the linkage rods and their orientation in the latch. I did re-use the keylock linkage rod off the OBS door due to the difference in retainers on the lock itself.
the OBS door stuff did come out quite easily and the replacement stuff did require a little coaxing to go in. This is prolly why Ford redesigned the assy. It's not the easiest to assemble when there are linkage rods with a mind of their own.
well....here are some pics. Next time I get a member dropping by with a real camera, I'll take some better pictures, but in the meantime...this will do.
The latch assy on the left of both pics is the 80-91 style and the right is the 92-97(OBS) style.

cool information.I am in the middle of fixing my 95 doors, seems as someone has replaced the pass side wit a 87-91 door, as it has the medal rod, and the rounded wing.
found out a80s wing wont work either, the width of the frame is different and the main widows are different

wing windows and window glass from the 80-86 years are different from the 87-91 years. Like you noticed, the wing window frame is of a different thickness and the window glass is of a different width too. thinner frame = wider glass.....thicker frame = narrower glass.

Interesting. So if you want to replace a window or wing window from one year to the other, you must swap both and not just one, correct?

the problem with swapping both the wing and the glass is the rubber strip on the inside and outside of the door (felts) also correspond to the thickness of the wing frame.
also after 92 they went to the flat front wing vrs the pointed, and the door panels match the wing. you cant open the pointy wing on a door panel made for the flat. It just so happens on this truck I dont care, main reason for replacement is the latch is busted.

Agnem said:

Interesting. So if you want to replace a window or wing window from one year to the other, you must swap both and not just one, correct?

Click to expand...

mel-
it's more of a generational difference rather than year. But yes, if you want the whole thing to work you need to do the whole thing. This only applies if you are changing out the entire wing window frame. For the sake of simplicity, I've always changed out the frame assy, that way I know the wing window is bonded in the channel. The window glass size difference is very obvious when you have both pieces side-by-side.
92-97 has that "famous" notch in order to clear the driver's side dash. So the passenger side was done the same just for the "balance"

I replaced my wing glass from a early 80's to my 87 with just little problems. had to take the whole thing apart and twisted the bottom nut so now it only opens 3/4 of the way. some kind of stop on the bolt?

another difference in the widow regulator where the handle attaches to, the early up to 91 is shorter thaqn the 92 and up

Is this "wear item" what is causing my doors sound like they are not shut? They kinda rattle/bang back and forth like the dorr isn't shut all the way. It is beginning to drive me crazy!

LA350 said:

Is this "wear item" what is causing my doors sound like they are not shut? They kinda rattle/bang back and forth like the dorr isn't shut all the way. It is beginning to drive me crazy!

Click to expand...

The wear item is the cable that goes from the lever you pull on to the latch inside the door.
If yours is rattling, chances are the plastic sleeve on the striker post is damaged or missing.

Yeah, the doors rattle like crazy! It drives me nuts too I guess I need to make a trip to the bone yard to snag some of the plastic peices.

just about any auto parts store with a "Help" rack will have the plastic bushing kit for $7.95 does both doors and the tailgate

ah thats what the other 2 plastic pieces are for

Right on!!
Thanks! going there now! Stupid door rattle

I picked up the kit, although it stated it was for 83-94 Broncos so I figured I was ok. I am going to install it tomorrow.