Door Striker - What is that collar?

[SC74]

My driver's door has never closed right and I've got a new latch to put on it. It has always had weird symptoms like it won't unlatch to open once you try to open it with the lock in the down positition. Even after you pull the door lock back up, it won't open and you have to take the panel off the inside (not fun with seats in it and closed) and do it manually. I've got a nut on the door lock to prevent me from even pushing it down - no big deal it doesn't have a top anyway.

Now the door wont close all the way. It catches as if you didn't close it hard enough, but unless you really slam it then it won't close fully. I noticed that the striker has a collar on it and it is loose. The passenger side is not loose. I tried to pinch it tight again, but that didn't work. Can the collar be removed, or do I need to replace the striker with a new one?

Thank you!

 

[BajaFresh75]

New striker is 15 bucks in the catalogs. The trick is getting your old one off.

 

[Teal68]

The trick is getting your old one off.

20v cordless impact to the rescue!

 

[SC74]

Would the loose collar be the reason the door doesn't want to shut all the way, or do I have a different problem also?

 

[Teal68]

Would the loose collar be the reason the door doesn't want to shut all the way, or do I have a different problem also?

Yes, if the pinchers on the door can't clasp all the way around it.

 

[DirtDonk]

Yep. But did you also at some point in the recent past install new weatherstripping?

And at this point, no matter what you fix and how well that works, you're dealing with truly gummed up latching mechanisms. The first time you had to pull the door panel off to open it up, you should have removed the whole assembly and soaked it in carb cleaner. Or at least manually wiped it down with some sort of heavy duty gunk remover. Just spraying carb or brake cleaner is almost never enough. That trick would have worked when these were ten years old or less, but now that they're 40-50 years old, it's time for a true cleaning and re-lubing.

It's time that maybe we don't like to spend, but it's so well worth it you'll be ticked off at yourself for not doing it sooner.
And if, when you're fiddling with the intricate mechanism to see how it works, you find that something is truly buggered beyond repair, new ones are just the ticket.

Oh, and speaking of new ones... If you ever replace your door handles, keep the inner workings (push-button stuff) from the old ones to use with the new fancy chrome ones.
The new ones are designed after another vehicle and have a different leverage factor that your thumb has to overcome. If you don't want to be damaging your thumbs and pissing off your wives and kids then, use the old factory Bronco buttons.

Paul

 

[Jaxgtc]

>>>>The trick is getting your old one off.<<<<<<

#4 PZD phillips bit and an impact tool. The bits are pretty hard to find, but it is that right tool for the job thing...worth the couple of bucks.

 

[ared77]

Where can you find them? Any ideas? Is PZD same as Pozi Drive I see listed when I did an internet search?

 

[TTTGOWYO]

I fought trying to get mine off for many nights.. Now I am letting Tom Hyde figure it out. lol.

 

[Jaxgtc]

Where can you find them? Any ideas? Is PZD same as Pozi Drive I see listed when I did an internet search?

Yes it is the Pozi Drive bit. I bought one on Amazon. Like many, I realized that a phillips, no matter how big, was not the right bit. I found the Pozi Drive on a Mustang Forum and seems to be the right thing.

 

[ared77]

Thanks Jaxgtc.

 

[SC74]

All very good advice... new striker ordered! Thank you!!