Door Latch Woes - Fixed it!!!

[BronCowie]

To start with, I am a body-work rookie.

My drivers door latch quit latching recently, and I'm stumped as to what the cause is. The pics show poor alignment overall but the latching mechanism does line up with the pillar post.

I've had this daily driver over 26 years now and that alignment has always been like this. The latch works fine with the door open, pushing on it with my finger, will not release unless pushing on the door handle button.

Is that post adjustable, inward/outward? What else might be causing this?

 

[AZ73]

It looks to me like the bushing on the floorboards have collapsed enough to make the post hang up on the latch. You can try adjusting your post (use a #4 impact phillips to loosen) and add a triangular washer behind it, but you're probably better off replacing the body to frame bushings. If you don't want to do all of them with new, unbolt the 2 on the floorboards and add some large washers to tilt the cowl section up slightly. Else look at your door post and and see if it's got wear marks on the inside top and maybe file it down a little.

 

[BronCowie]

10-4 on the #4 phillips/impact... I tried a #3 with no impact after soaking those with PB Blaster with no budging.

There is wear a mark on the upper side of the post bushing... pic below. The post fitting itself does not appear to have moved over the years.

Thanks for your words, it probably is time for new floor support bushings, after 50 years, ya think?

 

[DirtDonk]

And it might just be time for some latch maintenance too. It can all add up to not latching.
It's relatively easy to remove if you can remember where the rods go. They're relatively intuitive, but if you take pictures first, you won't have to remember which one goes where and why.

But these things even 30 years ago probably needed some cleaning and re-lubing. Not just a shot of carb cleaner (which can work sometimes, but usually does not) but a really deep cleaning with some soak time. Someone just suggested oven cleaner and I've heard that before, but I've always used the Chem-Dip can because I always have one. Even though I haven't rebuilt a carburetor in 30 years!

But once it's clean you can also inspect the alignment of the little bitty parts that slide and twist and go bump in the night to make sure they are still touching where they are supposed to. These things are quite complex little mechanisms, but this is also fairly intuitive once you study the workings for a few minutes.

Some light oil, or my preferred is water proof grease (like boat trailer bearing grease) even though it can attract dust inside the door there during the normal routine. It's still a great lube and will keep the latch happy for years before you ever have to think about it again.
It's shocking how well a Bronco door closes when the latch is clean and lubed. Even with other issues such as weathersripping and stuff.

Paul

 

[70Canada]

Hello, just wanted to mention that my passenger door stopped latching a few months ago, would like to let you know what i did. As DirtDonk mentioned, i removed the door panel and went through the process of removing all the rods, etc.(those darn little lock latches can be tricky to get if they haven't been released in a long time to release the rods) just be patient. once you have it all out. I ended up seething that There was an alignment issue with where the mechanism that was designed to push down and lock past centre and push against the rest of the structure that had somewhat pushed itself outwards actually coming down to the outside of itself and no longer putting pressure against the mechanism to hold the latch shut while the door is in the closed position. I have no idea what caused this but I wouldn't rule this out. I Did the repair (pushed and bent it back into alignment) in about 1.5hrs. Of course I didn't have another latch to compare to so I would reccomend removed removing the inner door panel from the drivers door and shine the flashlight in there to watch how the mechanism works through its open/closed cycle - thats how i saw it and it was immediately evident once i did that.

 

[70Canada]

hopefully i have understood you correctly that the door does not latch/stay latched

 

[BronCowie]

hopefully i have understood you correctly that the door does not latch/stay latched

Yes that is correct. The latch on the door seems to engage the post on the pillar, but all I have to do to open the door is pull on the handle without pushing the button.

I did pull the inside door panel off yesterday and lubed everything, but the problem still exists.

Between you and Paul, it seems I need to take a closer look inside the door.

Thank you all for the feedback!

 

[70Canada]

It's exactly what was happening with mine, mechanism engaged giving the illusion that it may be shut but just pull on it and it released. It sure sounds like it may be the culprit. (the mechanisms within the door latch just not in alignment anymore). I thought i was going to have to buy a new one... but to tweak things/them back into alignment was ez peezy. Good Luck. Hopefully its that simple for you.

 

[BronCowie]

It's exactly what was happening with mine, mechanism engaged giving the illusion that it may be shut but just pull on it and it released. It sure sounds like it may be the culprit. (the mechanisms within the door latch just not in alignment anymore). I thought i was going to have to buy a new one... but to tweak things/them back into alignment was ez peezy. Good Luck. Hopefully its that simple for you.

ez peezy? ... We Like!

I'll give it a shot this weekend. Thanks Bro!

 

[DirtDonk]

It is actually pretty basic stuff. Just give yourself some time to fiddle around and clean any gunk out of the door while you're playing around and learning what the inside mechanisms are like.
And "while you're in there" might as well lube up the channel roller and joints, along with the window regulator spring and spindle.

I did the '68 a few months back and did have to loosen the rear window track to let the latch slide out of position easier, but I don't remember having to do that on the '71 way back when.
However, that might have been when the rear track mount was busted so it was already loose? Could be, but either way it's easy to find the bolt(s) to loosen the track, and easy to get back in place.
In fact, they're often banged out of place after decades of slamming the doors anyway. Might as well play around "while you're in there" and make sure the window tracks are adjusted properly.

If your windows currently slide like butter and are nice and quiet, don't change anything!;D If they are, just remember where all the bits were set up before.
If not, then it's time to get them working properly anyway.

Paul

 

[BronCowie]

Paul,

I know you are a treasure trove of EB knowledge... I will do all of this, time permitting.

I have had to work on this mechanism a few years back when I couldn't open it from the inside... had to roll the window down and use the outside button to get my @zz outta there ;D

That adjustment that I made back then might have something to do with this now. A 50 year old vehicle/daily driver requires special attention from time-to-time.

Again, thanks to you and the others that chimed in. I probably have several problems contributing to this:

1) Sagging body mounts/door alignment
2) Door innards maintenance

4 days off coming up, maybe I can spend some time on this.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, remember our heritage and our founding fathers and framers this weekend!

 

[56f100bbw]

I put a NOS door latch on my 77 dr side and cleaned up and Lubricated the others side and did the same on my 76 bronco cleaned up and lubricated work great I was going to replace mine with reproduction but and email from Jonathan ward from icon bronco he says he doesn’t like them

 

[DirtDonk]

They're probably reproductions of some other vehicle, like a Mustang or something. They are definitely different, but I feel that they actually work pretty well. At least some brands.

We did go through some different manufacturers and settled on one that seemed to work the best.
What is really funky are the outside push-button release handles. The pivot is of a different ratio and shape and are much harder for your thumbs to push to open the door.
If the door is adjusted to within an inch of it's life and easy to open, the mis-matched buttons are probably fine. But for everyone else the trick is to buy the new ones, but replace the new button with your old one. Works great and you get the new chrome.

It works out because the buttons themselves are usually still in good shape. It's the handle that takes the beating and the chrome looks rough. So here again, if you want new, find. Just don't throw away the old parts yet!

Paul

 

[BronCowie]

Hey 70Canada... I took a pic of it. Can you point to where your issue was that was needing re-alignment?

 

[BronCowie]

My buddy Robert and I, being kicked out of the kitchen for several hours while the turkey feast was being prepared, headed out to the shop where I showed him the problem.

After reading through this thread we proceeded to poke around inside the driver's door but continued to be stumped.

We then, as advised by 70C, opened up the other door that works perfectly and made the comparison and found were the hang up was.

Circled in the attached picture is the part that was out of alignment, pushed outwards so-to-speak.

We took a 1/4" diameter X 1' long rod and placed it on the offending part and tapped it with a small hammer back into place.

Put it all back together just in time for dinner.

Happy Thanksgiving all!

 

[DirtDonk]

Hah! Congrats on getting booted out of the kitchen until it was time to eat!
Glad it's fixed. For now anyway...

But if it ever does it again, or someone you know has the issue, you'll be all over it.

Paul

 

[broncochevy]

Cool, glad it got fixed. Seems like the little things can give such big problems.

 

[70Canada]

Hey sorry Bron! been a little bit since i was on here last.... Glad things worked out for you! the little things like this can be a pain in the butt if they get drawn out. kudos to a quick and FREE solution. now with your thanksgiving in the rear view mirror ... onto to Christmas!

 

[BronCowie]

Door Latch Woes - Fixed it!!! (UPDATE 9-12-2020)

...Glad it's fixed. For now anyway...

But if it ever does it again, or someone you know has the issue, you'll be all over it.

Paul

Yeah Paul... It happened again today, almost a year later. And this is a Daily Driver so the door is used a lot.

I searched for this thread and found it right away, 30 minutes later I got it working again. ;D Post #15 is the where the fix is.

This time I used a long shaft screwdriver to pop it back in place (acted like it was spring-loaded) and then hit it with some white lithium grease in a rattle can. We'll see how long it lasts this time.