Door Latch Question

Pete

Pete

Founder/Owner
Staff member
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Sep 17, 2009
8,098
Hailey, Idaho
First Name
Pete
Willys Model
  1. Wagon
Willys Year:
  1. 1960
Spent some time trying to get my passenger door working this weekend. The outside door handle was missing the trigger, so I replaced it with a used ebay handle. The used handle had quite a bit of wear too, and wouldn't push the trigger inside the door far enough to open the latch. I added a small machine screw to the little part that pushes the lever inside the door, and got to working fine.

Once I had the handle working, I got to looking at the striker plates on the door jambs, and I think they are on backwards. Looks like the dumb-ass PO swapped them side to side when he had them off to paint the door jambs.

doors01.jpg


Is the little spring loaded bit supposed to be on the top? Mine don't touch anything when the door is closed...

And the latch seems to only latch onto the first click. Shouldn't the latch rotate to the second click when the door is shut tight?

Also noticed that the hinge pockets are stretched out from opening the doors too far (door stops are missing). The passenger side is the worst. The edge of the spring hole is pushed out far enough that the door doesn't want to close all the way because it hits the edge of the pocket. The new rubber seal that the PO put on is all chewed up from getting squished where there is no roof for it between the edge of the hinge pocket and the door.

doors02.jpg


I'm going to have to pull the doors off and see if I can hammer the pocket back into shape so the doors will close like they should.

Pete
 
Pete,

Same as Lee. I took pics of the latch on my '54 Wagon and spring is on top.[attachment=0:wc9oqctx]DCP_0001z.jpg[/attachment:wc9oqctx]

Luck.
Old Willy
 

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Thanks guys. I'll get them flipped around.

Pete
 
My 51 Willys truck had the broken door checks and the sheetmetal was bent out like your Pete,only worse.It's a no rust Arizona truck,the door screws should come right out,NOT.Lots of penatrating oil including the over rated Kroil did nothing. Had to heat the screw head cause it's damn near impossible to get behind to heat the threaded plate.Got about half the screws out.Fine thread and a Phillips head is poor engineering.And I do have the proper sized Phillips driver.It was actually easier to drill the screws on the door post,Phillips screws center a small drill nicely,use a 1/2 drill bit to shave away the head,remove the door,drill with 17/64 and then tap to 5/16-18.I choose this size because that what the local hardware store had in flat head screws.
Anyway,your door screws might back right out :D
 
Wondering if it is any easier to remove the door from the hinges instead of removing the hinges from the jamb?

Pete
 
It might be easier ,just try em and see what happens i did try both and settled on the door jambs cause the door tends to move around when you work on it..The screws on mine were a knife fight all the way.The mint screw heads means I was the first guy in there too.The screws are made from wax so they get buggered up pretty quick if you beat on em .But maybe my truck's screws were stripped in my a disgruntled Willys worker :roll:
 
Go for the door jamb Pete. It's gonna take a lot of whacking on that impact. The door side will just piss you off. (ask me how I know) :) Wait until you can secure it if you want to go that far.
Steve
 
I removed them both....jam and door....but not before I sprayed the heck out them with a penetrating oil...impact was my favorite helper after the oil....it's also nice to have two people...one to catch the door. Oh isn't this fun?
 
For what it's worth . . . reference the impact drivers; I used to own a few Samurais, the bodies of which are put together with philips screws and something like Lock-tite. The cheap impact drivers don't work like the name brand ones. I tried two different inexpensive impact drivers with little or no luck. I finally borrowed the neighbor's Snap-On and they came out relatively easy (well, other than breaking a bit). I later bought a Mack and that worked well too.
 
Had a few minutes in the garage yesterday, so I flipped the door latch striker plates and got them put back on where they go. Adjusted them, and the doors shut much better now. Before, the passenger door would not latch tight, and the latch would only rotate to the first stop. Now it shuts tight and the rubber seal on the door fits against the body. I didn't think this door was going to fit right because of the hinge pockets being stretched outward, but with the latch on correctly, it works fine for now.

Pete
 
it feels great when something simple gets fixed without a lot of hassle and cost. Good Job.
 
Where is the adjustment for the latches? My driver side door only latches to the first click.
 
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