Door latches

[Jason7121]

I bought new counter part door latches and am having an issue with both sides. If you have either door locked and attempt to open with outside handel the lock jambs and you can't lock or unlock the door. Original latches do not have this issue. I verified this on a buddys truck. Any ideas?

[randy500]

If you re-latch the door it should unlock, you would have to push on it pretty hard to latch it. I'm sure the problem is door seals that are exerting too much pressure on the door...it has new door seals right?

[Jason7121]

Door seals are new but door closes and latches perfect. If you lock the door after closing and attempt to open with outside handel it will jamb up the lock where it won't unlock

[randy500]

I wrote a response to this issue on used door latches, basically the latch from the outside has a gear wheel that latches the door, on the inner part of the latch is a similar set of teeth that actually do the latching, there are 2 pieces, one latches and one locks. Releasing the latch by pushing the outside handle puts pressure on the lock latch and it binds up. The cure is a good latch...or you could grind a small amount off the locking pawl to relieve the pressure, it will still lock just won't bind up when using the outside handle when locked.

[randy500]

Picture of the latch, lock pawl on bottom, latch pawl on left

[randy500]

Wear or loose tolerances when manufactured makes the latch pawl and lock pawl get out of synch, generally the latch pawl wears on a used latch since it has metal to metal contact every time the door is latched. The lock pawl gets much less wear as it is only engaged when the door is locked.
Take the latch out and grind the lock pawl flat engagement area, test your work by putting pressure on the gear wheel to mimic he door pressure when latched while at the same time operating the outside handle to see if it still binds.

[Jason7121]

Maybe im misunderstanding you. It opens and closed fine locks and unlocks fine its when someone tryed to open the door with it closed and locked it jambs the lock mechanism and this happens with both doors. It doesn't do this with the original latches.

[randy500]

Like I said the latch pawl and lock pawl are out of synch. When you hit the button on the outside it partially releases the lock and the door is then latched by the lock pawl which makes it difficult to unlock the door. Push the door in while unlocking and it will prove my point.

[randy500]

Pushing the door in will relieve the pressure on the lock pawl and allow it to unlock feeely

[randy500]

And forget all about that original latches do not have this issue...his latches do not have the issue because the latch and lock pawl are not worn and out of synch.
I have a set of aftermarket latches here and they are made the same as the original latches.

[Jason7121]

Ok after reading again I see what your saying. I'll try and adjust the latch plate on the door first. Thanks

[randy500]

It's not the latch plate, it's the distance between the latch and lock pawl does not match the distance between the engagement teeth of the latch, the engagement teeth are not the same as the gear that engages the door striker.

[Jason7121]

I got everything locking latching and opening correctly. I have the new style push on door seals and I think they make the door fit too tight. The door doesn't sit flush with the cab anymore like it used to with the older style seals

[randy500]

Well you could still grind the lock pawl, the pointy part at the bottom of the pic a bit to get the lock and latch pawls in synch. You could also rotate the engagement wheel 180 degrees and see if that makes a difference. In normal operation the wheel only turns 90 degrees or so back and forth, it does freely rotate with the door handle pushed in, so rotate it and see I found it hels prevent handle from locking it up when locked.

I hate to tell you but I cut the rubber seal where it fits tight, I cut half the bulb off because it annoys me when the door doesn't shut right from too much door seal...looks a bit crappy but cures the problem and he door is still relatively wind and water tight.

[Jason7121]

Just grind pointy part down and round it or leave it pointy? Thanks for all your help your tips helped out today.

[randy500]

The surface on the left side of the pointy part is what engages the toothed wheel, keep it flat but relieve a bit of it while testing your work, it should just barely touch the toothed wheel when it's engaged by the latch pawl, the latch pawl is on the left.
Do try rotating the toothed wheel first to see if that corrects the problem, do that first.

[Jason7121]

I got the passenger side working perfectly with just an adjustment. Would you mind sending me a zoomed-in picture of the area I need to grind so I can fix the driver side

[randy500]

You can see the wear on the latch pawl...grind the flat narrow surface the arrow is pointed to

[randy500]

Another view of the unworn lock pawl, what you don't see is the wear on the toothed wheel

[Jason7121]

Thanks so much I'll grind that area this evening flat right?

[randy500]

Keep it as flat as possible, check your work as you go, the lock pawl should not change the latch pawl engagement with pressure on the wheel to simulate the door being held closed. Place around with he latch so u understand how it works. Like I said you can see the wear in the pictures on the latch pawl.

[randy500]

Check he latch wheel too for up and down movement, should be fairly tight and not move around except to rotate

[Jason7121]

Yeah I saw that. The old latch and new one both take pressure against the door to open correctly.

[Jason7121]

Yeah I moved latch wheel 180 degrees didn't make a difference.

[Jason7121]

New latch and wheel does same thing.