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Advantages of bearclaw latches?

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by 55chieftan, Sep 6, 2009.

  1. Try a quality latch and see how it goes; the mounting is the same, should be no paint problems.
    38Chevy454 on here sells good latches.
     
    BIG-JIM likes this.
  2. 3banjos
    Joined: May 24, 2008
    Posts: 480

    3banjos
    Member
    from NZ

    Yep, thats the guy Rich. Terry. Good to deal with too. Give him a bell Jim.
     
  3. BIG-JIM
    Joined: Jun 13, 2009
    Posts: 1,379

    BIG-JIM
    Member
    from CT

    Gonna see if it's just out of adjustment first before I go spending money. Thanks for the lead on the latches. I'm gonna need a set for my 34 so I may end up buying 2 sets.
     
  4. On my 48 Chev truck we installed the bearclaw latches (a pain in the arse for sure) and I had ongoing problems with the door locks. So to ensure my truck stayed locked up, we got some actuators and made a couple of metal pins and bought a $60 car alarm kit with central locking as the non alarm kit was $70!! Fitted the actuators into the door pillar and drilled a matching hole in the door frame. Hit the lock button on the key fob and the pin goes forward into the dor and locks it.

    I figure you could keep the original door latches and fit a keyless entry kit and then your doors would never flop open on the corners. Safety, and the original look if thats important to you.A win/win deal.
     
  5. I've bought from him also. Good latches.
     
  6. wsdad
    Joined: Dec 31, 2005
    Posts: 1,257

    wsdad
    Member

    Don't have x-ray eyes to see exactly where the post is aligning with the latch? Here's a little Superman-free trick.

    Squish some playdough around the latch. Then you can see exactly where the post hits by the impression.

    You may have to lubricate (WD-40) the post so the playdough won't stick.
     
    Last edited: Sep 5, 2016
  7. BIG-JIM
    Joined: Jun 13, 2009
    Posts: 1,379

    BIG-JIM
    Member
    from CT

    Thanks for all the great tips and info. It may be a few days till I get down the 3 flights of stairs to my garage. Seem like someone parked a house on my sciatic nerve and I am very limited in my ability to walk. Legs are numb and the pain is excruciating. The one thing I'm grateful for is that the doors aren't suicide like the 34 tudor. At 70 on the highway it would have been real bad. That has old style latches and they will be replaced with bearclaws. Just want to see if its out of adjustment or actually a bad latch. If it's a bad latch maybe see if I can buy just that one side and a pair for the tudor but till this back heals up, I'm kinda dead in the water. On a side note the tudor will have safety pins like the wife's 32.
     
  8. Canuck
    Joined: Jan 4, 2002
    Posts: 1,104

    Canuck
    Member

    There is a solution for those that don't like the hair trigger action of the latches.

    When I was laying out the linkage for my latches, I added a slide area on each release arm that the handle has to travel through against the spring in the handle before the latch releases. The inside and outside handles are nearly at the end of their travel before the latch releases. In the attached picture you can see the slide area for the inside handle in the ugly looking brazed piece of metal. The outside handle slide area is in the bell-crank in the lower part of the picture.

    Linkage Layout.JPG

    This install is on a Model A Ford, that necessitates the linkage going down under the window then back up to the latch. The inside release is a 48 Chevy. The latches are "Eberhart 9-400-R and 9-400-L" that feature dual arms so you can have inside and outside release handles.

    Canuck
     

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