Technical Rebuilding worn door latch.

Anyone got experience with rebuilding the door latches. The latch block itself is badley worn, and im wondering if i should just build it up with weld.

Have anyone tried this?

Cant seem to find this latch unit anywere. Its on a euro 4 door v8 1932.

Best regards
Kim mortensen.

 

That's the way Dave does that particular part when he rebuilds the latches. HRP

 

Thanks. Ill to that then.

 

I'd think you'd want to use a "hard-surface" rod to build that up ..
dave

 

I always thought that mig welds turned out hardend.

 

Might want to check w/your welding consumable supplier there are rods/wire that have different carbon content that make them more or less wear resistant..
dave

 

Thanks.

 

Yes
I've done it on my 49 F1 truck, its not too bad. Once you get the mechanism dis***embled you will find several parts that are worn and may need to be built up. Tear the thing apart, clean and inspect, apply spot welds to build up the missing areas, file back to shape, re***emble and lube and you're good to go.
It looks harder than it actually is. You'll be glad you did it, it will make a world of difference.

Good luck
Bobby

 

Thanks. Yes its worn all around. What about the rivits. Is rivits available for this or is it better just to give it a weld.

 

That's what I did on the latches on my truck. They seem to be holding up well.

 

Sometimes you can just turn the rivet half turn and it's good. Tack weld it. Get some new springs also. Gentleman on the Ford barn has correct ones.

 

All good advice.

 

Thanks all. I have the path layed out now (-:

 

There's hard, and there's HARD. A MIG/MAG weld might end up a bit harder than the base metal, a bit harder to work with but nothing crazy - not really useful to prevent wear. Hardfacing is used as a protective layer to minimize wear on excavator buckets, rock crushers and such. They can easily be so hard a file would just slide over it without doing anything - well, the file might get damaged but that's about it.

Before someone pulls the "traditional card", hardfacing was used on the sealing edge of engine valves during WW2, giving a much longer valve life. If i recall correctly, it was used on flathead V8's running generators, but I might have mixed that up with something else.

 

weld it up and get someone to clean it up on a milling machine,fresh springs if possible with fresh grease.i did the locks on my 38 chevy pu.turned out great

 

NOS latch mechanisms are not terribly hard to find.

 

I was able to reuse my springs, but a lot of the time the springs are broken. Be wary when buying new ones, make sure to match them up with the old. I know for the 48-52 Ford trucks the majority of the springs being marketed are wrong and would never work.
On my latch mechanism it was held together with tabs that got folded over. These are pretty brittle and snap off very easily, I just spot welded it back together. I figured it lasted 60 years originally so it should probably be many a year before anyone has to mess with it again.
Bobby

 

Too much work to copy and paste it all but here is a post with lots of pictures of fixing a couple of my pretty bad F1 latches. Should be similar workings inside. Amazing how well they work when you take out the slop.

http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1404735-f1-latch-repairs-fix-the-sag-and-make-them-work.html

 

Thanks. Great illustrated info.

 

Here is another thread from that same site from when I worked on mine;
http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1368087-bonus-built-droopy-door-handle-repair.html

 

Yes. Thats exactly what ille attempt whe time allows (-:

 

New springs are available,Dave turns new pins and rivets on a lathe.

All the buildup is done with a mig before he reshapes it.HRP

 

I had to rebuild both latch mechanisms on the 30 Plymouth sedan I'm restoring for a client - they had the tabs that broke right off when I tried to bend them back, so I just welded them back up. They have compression springs inside them so I found some at the local Ace and trimmed them to fit. Fixed the droopy door handle problem and they work fine.

 

Regarding the lock mechanism. On the european model its mounted with 3 of these on the back. I think they are used elsewere. What are they called and where to get them.

 

Very similar to the washers that hold the insulation to the inside of the firewall. Not sure about the size/depth variations though.

 

Do you know the name of such a thing (-:

 

I think "cup washer" is the name you're looking for.

 

Super thanks.

 

They look curiously like drum brake spring retainers?

 

Agree. But cant find any. Have searched the whole wwww.... complete from one end to the other. I think ill have to make one. When im done with that i will learn where to find them for 1$.... usually the way it happens (-: