Door Handle Modification

[dwcsr]

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=77555

this should be very helpful

[winchster]

Originally Posted by dwcsr

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=77555

this should be very helpful

You are correct, that is very helpful. However it doesn't answer the question:

Can I use pushbutton door handles from '52 up on my '49 door?

[FiftyTwo]

Switching the outside handles isn't going to be very easy.

The doors are actually different. '47-'51 use a single hole to mount the outside door handle, while '52 on up use two holes.

The inside door latch is also different. '47-'51 the rod on the door handle trips the door latch when you turn it down, '52 on up the latch is tripped by pushing the button on the door handle. Two totally different ways of doing the same thing.

Lastly, the catch on the cab post is also different between '47-'51 and '52 on up.

With that said, anything can be accomplished with a little creative cutting and welding. You could just shave the door handles, install bear claw latches and some solenoids and be done.

Good Luck.

[dwcsr]

Originally Posted by winchster

You are correct, that is very helpful. However it doesn't answer the question:

Can I use pushbutton door handles from '52 up on my '49 door?

To answer the question, No. the mechanism is not the same or in the same place or mounted the same.

[winchster]

Ok, so the answer is yes I can if I really want to.

Sorry about the whole thing I guess I should have just asked if the doors would fit, cause if the doors fit then the latch change will work.

I want pushbuttons with bear claw latches. So the latching mech's don't really matter to me. Now I just gotta figure out how to make the pushbuttons work. Sounds like I should probably just find doors and swap, but I don't want vent windows and I have brand new glass.

[Steve@OldSub.com]

Originally Posted by winchster

I want pushbuttons with bear claw latches.

The bear claw latches is kind of an important detail.

You're going to be figuring out how to make the mechanism inside the door work regardless of what doors you use, and you're going to be changing the striker plate to match the bear claws.

I think with those assumptions you might as well just put '52 up pushbutton handles on your early doors. Changing to later doors only saves you drilling the holes to mount the handles and filling the lock hole on the passenger side.

[winchster]

Originally Posted by Steve@OldSub.com

The bear claw latches is kind of an important detail.

I said so in the original post. My main concern, and I obviously screwed this up, was are the doors physically the same except for the hardware.

Thanks for all the input guys, anybody got any details on how to make the pushbuttons work with bear claws?

[BlueJeep]

I'm working on doing bear claws in mine right now, but I'm trying to keep the turn down handles with them. If I can't make that work, I'll switch to the pushbutton style and do it with them. If you're capable of doing the fab for the bear claws, switching handles is no big deal. Search for bearclaws on this site and you'll come up with a couple different ways of doing it with pushbuttons...one was Houston54's. Handles are also the same through the TF series, so that opens up your search criteria a bit for used handles.