Series 1 door latches

[Laid_Out_50]

Wondering where I can find door latches for my series 1 truck
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[mknittle]

maybe here.

http://www.lmctruck.com/icatalog/ca/full.aspx?Page=16


Or here

http://www.scribd.com/doc/106275398/TS-47-59-WEB

Page 21 enter page number in top right box.

I would convert to bear claws if it were mine though.

[mr48chev]

I'm with mknittle. if it isn't a 100% to show room stock restoration do yourself and your family a favor and convert it to bear claw style latches. The stock latches are way too prone to popping open if they get worn even a little bit or out of adjustment a bit.

About 34 years and 6 months ago my wife fell out of the 48 one morning when I was taking her to work and she was leaning against the door. That was the same day she found out she was pregnant with our now 34 year old daughter. She still has the scars on her face and knees from it 34 years later. Luckily I was only going about 5 mph but was turning a corner at the time.

Since your truck is going to be highly modified I's suggest changing the latches.

[Tims37chevy]

Altman Latches

[dwcsr]

Originally Posted by Tims37chevy

Altman Latches

I agree, I just put some on a 50 and they are well worth the money

[_Ogre]

mkittle posted for .2 trucks, .1 trucks are a few pages before that
http://www.lmctruck.com/icatalog/ca/full.aspx?Page=14

[mknittle]

Originally Posted by _Ogre

mkittle posted for .2 trucks, .1 trucks are a few pages before that
http://www.lmctruck.com/icatalog/ca/full.aspx?Page=14

OOps brain fart.

[Laid_Out_50]

Sorry to bring up an old thread but I didn't want to start a new one. So I need to swap the door latches out the girlfriend won't ride with me because she get frustrated she can't close the door. So I went on the bear claw website and they have 2 options the large and the mini latches which ones would I use on my 1st series truck? I thought they were more expensive that's why I've held off

http://www.autoloc.com/catalog/Bear-...r-Claw-Latches

[tmoble]

they're not cheap by any means unless you factor in the savings on not going to the ER with serious injuries. it's a matter of when, not if. I just paid the full boat retail price for the Altman kit for my 57, like $375. I'll save more than that on the install as the Altman setup is nicely engineered and constructed to be a near bolt in operation. Those things you linked to are the cheapies sold on ebay for about half of the $45. you're on your own to build a decent install, it's one size fits all.

[Laid_Out_50]

I did a little research after my last post and what do you guys think of the Altman bolt on kit?

[jackson]

Originally Posted by Laid_Out_50

I did a little research after my last post and what do you guys think of the Altman bolt on kit?

do it . I just did my 49. never done one before . tiny little tweaking here and there . glad I bit the bullet and shelled out the $350 . only negative is no way to lock door from inside. I think I will put electric door locks with the exterior key lock just in case battery goes dead

[tmoble]

what he said. I think I can do the inside lock thing with a door popper type solenoid. there's a threaded bolt hole on the top of the Altman latch, the cheapie latches you linked to have something bolted there, but their pics don't show that side.

[tmoble]

the exterior lock on the outside door handle doesn't do much, IIRC all it does lock the button so you can't push it in. This can be defeated with a Large Ford Tool or they can always just break a window, that's why it's good to have layered security. No matter what you do they can always show up with a rollback and it's gone. I'm good with one of the cell phone GPS deals, but the phone has to be somewhere it can see the sky. My truck is a BBW, there's just not a lot of places to put one that's hidden and has visibility to the GPS satellite array both.

[mr48chev]

The Cheapie latches that Laid out 50 showed come from one of the Hoffman Group enterprises that sells sometimes suspect items for cheaps.

Decent quality stock latches can be had from any of the major truck goodie vendors. The only problem is that just like the originals they wear out in a few short years. Then you replace them again.

The Altman kits are spendy but I have never once seen a complaint on how they work or what it takes to install them. They take a lot of the "I hope I get this right" out of it too. The other thing about those kits is no welding, meaning no repaint work or no damaged nice paint

Side note, in the early 80's my buddy discovered that kenworth truck door latches were not only quite inexpensive but they worked well and bolted on with 4 bolts. We both have them on our trucks but they took about ten hours of figuring and fabricating on each truck. I wouldn't recommend those unless a guy has some serious fab skills and a lot of imagination on how to make mechanical things work the way he wants them to.

[FiftyTwo]

I installed Altman kit. No more slamming of the doors, they close easily with a CLICK.

Best $350.00 I spent on my truck.

[_Ogre]

laidout50 has a 64 yr old truck with possibly 64 year old latches
just replace them with new repop latches and the doors will close and latch like factory new
truk has shave doors with electric solenoids and stock repop latches
no problems closing or latching them

[Laid_Out_50]

Latches are new and they suck

[Atommik]

I put in the Altman kit on mine and also ordered the power door lock brackets from Altman. Nice repair, doors shut and lock securely!