Am thinking about putting bear claws in our '34 p/u. The original ones are trashed beyond saving so I figure I may as well replace them to a safer option. Looking at my doors the window channel runs right where it ***ume I would have to cut into the door jamb to mount latch. Has anyone done this and could give me some advise, guidance?? Thanks
The window channel is going to be the big problem. But if you overcome that, then you will have to live with a big bolt protruding from your door jamb each time you enter and exit the already tight cab. 25 years ago I used bear claws in my 29 coupe. I now wish I had just stuck to originals. Before you go cutting, I'd seriously rethink just using what Henry designed. The 32-34 PU latch is the same basic latch used on 32 cars and 33-34 Fordor rear doors. If you cant find any rebuildable used ones, buy some repros.
I'm in the same boat. I'll tell you, There is no augment that the bear claw is far superior door latch- that not even up for discussion. Sticking bear law type latches where they don't belong will cause you extra work, lots of it. May even force you to do something really stupid like electric only doors. You need to redesign the handles to work, they need to go under the windows and back up. They foul the window tracks. I'm so sorry I started the install of them.
Yep, I ended up with electric only doors on my '29. I really wish I still had door handles on it. It was cool for the first few years. But the next 25 years, not so cool.
Terry Pehrson www.hotrodlatches.com hotrodlatches@yahoo.com Get the complete kit. He has big and small kits. Big for big cars. Small for old skinny cars. Like yours. Tell him Granpa sent you.
So I found a couple latches (they were the ones originally from the doors, I thought they were gone). What is involved in rebuilding them? The only replacement parts I can find are the springs, is that the only piece that gets replaced during a "rebuild". I would replace the strikers and the dovetails, too, as well as the hinge pins. I see they sell parts to rebuild the female dovetails, how do you get the old pieces out? Thanks
Early Ford door latches have many different spots that would wear. You need to move the strikers in and out and look at the edges of the moveable parts to see what has worn crooked (lots of locations). Most likely you won't find repro individual parts for those areas. If you aren't able to look and see for yourself what has worn out, it might just be best to buy the whole new repro latch from United Pacific.
good day, I am in the process of getting a 33 build an we came to the same issue as the latches were to thick , so the ones we got I believe were for a model a ,I think they were the mini latch ? as they also had a thin door. I could check with my guy if that would help in any way??
I don't think the slim latches would make any difference in my situation as no matter what they end up right where the window channel is. Going to play around with maybe placing them below the window channel - haven't looked yet I don't even know if that's possible - also working on getting my old latches working so as of now it's kinda a 50/50 proposition as to which way I'll. Busy trying to get the doors to fit properly so need to get that done first....
Having converted my 34 5 window to bearclaws, and making both stock outside and inside door handles operate them, I would just rebuild your stock units, or buy new ones. Your pickup doors have even less room in them than the coupe doors do.
Do you mind sharing how you got the outside door handles to operate the bear claw's? My A came with them installed, and no outside handles. It's been a quandry as to how I'm going to address that, since up to now it has no door gl*** installed, but I'd like to do that some day. Right now I just reach inside and use the inside handle to open the door, but with gl*** installed that won't be possible with the window up.
Lots of luck. You'll need to figure out how to get the door skin alone to hold the strains of the handle. It won't to you'll be adding structure inside the door to take tha place of the latch mechanism. Then you have to linkage or cable down under the window then back up to the latch. Now hopefully you have a dual hole latch arm. One hole with down movement opens the latch, that's for the outside handle. The other hole with linear movement for the inside handle opens the latch. Somewhere in there you need to get a window track to operate and p*** by the latch.
It’s not just the latches that are important when using the original factory stuff. The rubber door bumpers and hinge pins matter too. It’s not uncommon to have to shave the rubber bumpers a little to get the door clearance you need. Also, the doors themselves are often tweaked so a block of wood covered in a heavy towel works well to place in the jam at certain places. You the basically have to bend the door back to square or flush depending on what your problem is. There’s a lot of tweaking that goes into making everything work right. Just be prepared for that.
I put bear claw latches in my model a coupe doors. The standard one would never fit. They make a small one which will fit however. Still it was a fair bit of work lining everything up so the latch fit and the window could still roll up. I use the stock inside and outside handles. I got a latch operating mechanism that fit just behind the outside latch and it converted the rotary motion of the handle to pull a cable. The cable goes down the door, under the window and up the inside of the window to the latch. The latch works great, very quiet and smooth operation. Closing the door with one finger you just hear a click,click as the door latches. A fair bit of work but great results and I feel a lot safer with them installed. I heard too many stories of model A doors flying open on corners. I think I bought the cable actuators from Rock Auto. I could check to be sure if you decide to go that way.
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