Door latch fix

[Selahdoor]

My door was rattling and banging like mad, going down the rocky road I live on.

Wind was whistling through, on the road.

And I had to slam it every time, just to get it closed.



I got fed up with that, and decided to try something.

The plastic piece was missing from the post, on the door frame.

I'm betting there are a lot of others like that, here.

Well, I'm not one to toss money at a replacement latch post because of something like this, so I got to looking around.

Found an old piece of cpvc pipe. I mean OLD. It's from when they first started marketing this stuff to replace copper pipe.

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What I did was to mark around the outside of the latch post, so that I could get it back into the same position when done.

Unscrewed the post. Removed that post from the rest of the assembly. Cut a piece of this pipe to the right length, and slipped it over the post. Then put it all back together again.

Here it is, finished. It's on the left side of the pic.

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With the passenger side, on the right side of the pic. You can see that the plastic is still on the passenger side. It gives you a comparison.

This thing is perfect! Like it was MADE for it.


The door works like a brand new door!

No more slamming the door. A gentle push with a finger, and it swings and latches smoothly and quietly.

No more rattles.

I'll have to get out on the highway to find out if the wind noise problem is fixed or not.



Best part is that I have enough pipe left to do this to both doors another twenty times!

Such an easy fix! And FREE!!!

 

[bilbo]

I might have to try this out. I replaced the striker with a new one including a new plastic bushing and no matter what I did, the door would get stuck shut. I ended up using a bunch of wobble extensions, prayer, and cussing to loosen the bolt on the striker through the window slot and get the door opened. I think the latch mechanism in the door is worn out on mine.

 

[Selahdoor]

Sounds likely that the post is set too far inward on yours.

Do you have to really push, or slam, to get it to latch?

If someone in the past tried to "fix' it by moving that post further inward, then when you put on a new one, if you put it in the same position, it's entirely possible for it to do as you say.

I'd try loosening the post, and moving it outward, about a 16th to an 8th of an inch, before you do anything else.

Also, make sure it is lined up correctly, vertically.

 

[Scotty4]

I've seen a few tsbs regarding wind noise in these so it may never go away.

 

[Selahdoor]

Oh, it'll go away.

This might not have been the fix, but there is another simple fix for the wind noise if this didn't do it.

 

[bilbo]

I did move it out, even ground the hole a bit to get more but it didn’t work. I didn’t have to slam it to get it to shut, it just wouldn’t let go again. I haven’t messed with it in a while, just haven’t had time.

I was figuring maybe the latch is worn and won’t open far enough for a properly sized striker. I was going to try turning the bushing down.

 

[Selahdoor]

The one time I had a dor act like that, it was misaligned vertically.

The striker post was too high.

 

[WAID]

I might have to try this out. I replaced the striker with a new one including a new plastic bushing and no matter what I did, the door would get stuck shut. I ended up using a bunch of wobble extensions, prayer, and cussing to loosen the bolt on the striker through the window slot and get the door opened. I think the latch mechanism in the door is worn out on mine.

I just had that with a pair of replacement dorman strikers I got. The plastic bushings where a little bigger and would jam in the latch. I bought this surely overpriced but actually perfect sized pair off ebay.

 

[Old Goat]

I have a bunch of the plastic bushings I got from PNP.
Usually the passenger side is in pretty good shape.
Swapped them on and made a huge difference.

Another problem is if the door hinge pins are worn, it lets the door drop. So when the jaws clamp around the striker bolt, they have to slightly lift the door to latch.

Grab the lower corner of your door and see if there is up and down movement. The bushings and pin is available to repair this.

The door latch mecanizim can get dry and probably needs some lube.

If you are having to lift the inside door handle higher to open the door, the sheet metal is probably cracked where the door handle assy. is bolted.
Here is a fix for that. along with a video.

https://cpaddict.com/door-handle-reinforcement-plate-1980-1997-ford-f-series-bronco/


Goat