I'm wondering if anyone else with a deuce sedan Tudor, fordor etc has doors that are very tough to close? The doors on my Tudor have to be slammed to be closed. I was looking at the latch and pushed it in with my thumb. It was extremely hard to push in. Are they all like this? I'm pretty sure my sedan has had repop latches installed at one time or another. The belt line lines up well and the door appears adjusted ok. The pins are also in good shape as are the dove tails. Anybody have any suggestions?
Any chance when you close the doors they are trying to align the body? Do you see any areas where parts are rubbing? Charlie Stephens
No. There's no rub marks on the door jams. I just noticed though that the dove tail part that attaches to the door jam (as opposed to the part that attaches to the door itself) is worn down. So I'm thinking now maybe the dove tail receiver an issue. Just for curiosity, I removed the dove tail from the door itself and closed it. It closed much easier, however still needed a moderate amount of force to close. When I was at deuce days, I observed many deuce sedan etc owners close their doors and not have to slam them. I reinstalled the dove tail since I realize it's part of what holds the door in place and stops up and down movement when the door is closed.
If you have doubts on the dovetail parts, just hold the outer door handle in the full open position, and feel how the door is as you push in. from your description, it sounds like either the spring in the latch is too stiff, or binding between the latch "tongue" and the metal slide areas on the latch body. (like a sticking furniture drawer) .
I never had much luck with heating them. They either got too weak and would bend rather than flex, and if I tried to re-temper by heating and quenching, they got too brittle and snapped. If it is a stock design latch, the coiled springs were color coded as to what latch they fit, as many car makers bought their latches from one source. Someone must repro them or I bet there are some on ebay if you knew the color LOL. These came in an ***ortment, for garages. my 32 Ford now uses 31 Dodge sedan rear door latches. Rear doors don't wear out I imagine a similar Ford latch is crimped together, so you may not want to get involved? .
My Tudor has the original latches and they have never even been out of the car. I did drip some oil on them when I had the door cards off though. They have to be slammed to work. They aren't worn on the tang or the notched receiver. Must just be the way they are.
The latches in my coupe had old thick, hard grease keeping them from working smoothly. A good cleaning and fresh lube helped get them working smoothly. You could remove yours (a big job I know) to get a better idea of what's wrong with them.
I always thought they were supposed to close like a refrigerator if adjusted properly. Charlie Stephens
I got nos LH side and near new RH side, has always been hard to close doors... Could get a f'gl*** car, that might fix it
My 2 cents....my doors need a little bit of force, but I wouldn't say that it is anything in the realm of having to be slammed.
If the latch has a lot of play in it, with door open you can move latch bolt back and forth, door will close poorly. I had mine rebuilt, but you can buy repro ones from united pacific for a 5 window. Need to lengthen arm from remote to latch. Worn sloppy bolt makes you slam door to grab striker, then door releases a little to line up. Also opens hard[door handle] cause bolt is in a bind.
When you refer to a latch bolt, are you meaning the latch that sticks out from the door and goes in and out when you turn the door handle?
I lubed mine up before it went for interior and it worked fine, after interior was installed I had to adjust the catch on the B pillar because the weather stripping was pushing on the door. Can you spray some white litihium grease in around the latch? Sorry this probably doesnt help one bit. Good luck.
This is a good point. A worn out latch, versus a "too stiff spring", or gummed/rusted up latch have different ways to diagnose what is wrong. If you slowly press in on the door edge, same area as the latch itself, and it feels excellent when it latches on the first tooth of the striker plate, then it is not likely to be a stiff/gummed/rusty latch or stiff spring. What he means is, if the sliding tongue has lots of play, as you move the tongue in towards the interior, and out to the door skin, that slop makes you need to slam the door deeper past the quarter panel, so the tongue can finally reach the 2nd tooth on the striker plate. This wear makes it harder to adjust the door to sit exactly flush with the quarter panel. You get it to close nice and easy, but the door needs to go in just a 1/8" more, and when you adjust the striker in a bit, it now needs to be slammed hard to catch the 2nd tooth .
I always put a dab of white grease on the latch tongue on the door, in my mind it seems to help? Of course when your wife gets it on here new outfit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Looking at the door again today and it appears the part of the hinge that bolts to A pillar is slightly loose causing the door to drop slightly. But the screws that hold it in are tight. So something must be worn out. It doesn't appear the hinge pins are loose at all. But I suppose it couldn't hurt to instal a new pair.
Other opinions may vary, but it almost sounds like the sheet metal hiding behind the hinge is cracked, and moving? I did check how stiff my latch springs are...Very stiff when you push the tongue in by hand. But my doors still can be closed very easily.
Thanks for the info!! I think I need to take the door pillar tins off and see what's what under them. There's so far no stress cracks on the outside of the A pillar or otherwise, but you may still be on the right track! Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
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