I'm just about decided to go the bear claw latch route with my '33 truck doors. Has anyone tried the AutoLoc kit with doors similar to mine? I searched the threads on this & did see that guys have used these on Model A's, but not specifically on doors like mine. Am I safe to assume that if they'll work on a Model A door, they'll work on mine? I see the Gauge Store (never did business with them) has the "Locking Mini Small Bear Claw Latch Combo Kit" for $45.90 (for both doors). The installation looks pretty straight forward, with the only iffy part being that of trying to connect the outside & inside handles to make the mechanism work (& clear the window stuff). Thanks in advance...Greg
they should work ive installed some on a couple of cars and im going to install them on a 33 pickup too the linkage is the stuff you always seem to have to modify.
The 32 passenger cars (except the 3W Coupe) and 32-34 pickups use the same door latches with various length handle link assemblies. So any kit which works on the 32s will work on the pickups too.
I have done 2 32 PUs with bearclaws and no outside handles. I simply drop a piece of 1/4 inch rod attached to the latch down thru the bottom of the door and pushed the rod to open the doors. Also used the stock inside handle. No dam electric shit to fail.
Fleetside66: Check to see if the kits you are ordering have threaded inserts in the latches. Some don't and need nuts on the inside of the door. This makes instalation hard and the nuts can interfere with the window run channel. I think Hagan's have the inserts. dwrfab Don Ross
I plan on doing this as well (but with the full size latches - they seem a little safer to me - and I'm pretty sure they will fit as they are basically the same thickness as the small latches). So far it seems that the biggest problem will be hooking up the outside handle and clearance for the window channel. I'd be interested in seeing a Tech Thread on your installation of these in the '32-'34 P/U Doors. I
I'm looking into buying a bear claw latch kit too. The doors on my '50 Plymouth have been suicided, but not prepped for the latches. Any kits that anyone recommends?
I just installed a full set of "slim bear claw" from autoloc. I installed them on a 27 dodge 4 door. I took full pics and plan on posting them the next time a tech week pops up. Its kinda tricky with the linkage and very slim clearance on the window. I had to invent a linkage system, and with suicide, the striker bolts on the same post was interesting too, but it all works awesome. When IS the next tech week btw?
Bumping this because I'm installing bear claw latches in my 33 pickup door and they look like they'll interfere with the window channel. The latches aren't that wide, but if I mount them flush with the door using the install kit it looks like they'll interfere with the glass channel. How do you put them in these small doors and still get the door glass to go up and down? Thanks.
Mount them below the window channel. The more dramatic the chop the higher the latch location. Good Luck!
Geez, I thought this thread looked familiar. I ended up finding & rebuilding some original latches, due to the same interference issues that you mentioned. I sold the bear claws to another Hamber, who I hope had good luck with them. I am very happy with the functionality of the stock latches, by the way. I'm sure there's someone out there that has done bear claws with the truck doors to help the boys out...anyone?
I posted a tech article on how I did this and got around the window issue. Check it out here: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=184189&highlight=bear+claw Theres someone that posted at the end of that thread that has a link to his tech thread as well. Same idea. Good luck!
Can the bear claw style latches be easily installed on a 1934 Ford 3 window coupe? Sure would beat using that dead bolt system I think.
For latches on the 42 Chevy I am building I used bear claws from Rocky Hinge Co. They are much better that Autoloc, and much better customer service than Aitoloc. Just my 2 cents worth
Since I started this thread six years ago, my originals are still working well. And now they're repopping the whole door latch mechanism, as well as the window winders.
I ended up building linkages with the little bell crank thingies based on the tech posts above. They work fine. But if I had it to do again I think I'd go with the originals or the repopped originals.
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