Chevy truck doors 47 doors on a 53 cab

[oldnslow]

Has anyone put early (47-50) 1 pc glass doors on a later vent window style cab? I thought you just had to change the striker, but the early striker is deeper and does not fit.

[mr48chev]

It's been done quite often. I'd imagine that most guys have modified the door jamb to get the striker to fit.

Personally, unless it is going to end up with the appearance of a restored factory stock truck I would get rid of the stock latches and install bear claw style latches for safety reasons. The stock latches are well know for opening at the wrong time including when my wife fell out of my 48 going around a turn 34 years ago.

[mknittle]

mr 48 is right about that. The only thing i don't like is that most I haven't been able to find any aftermarket bear claws that lock from the inside. But It has been a while since
i have looked.

[mr48chev]

I went out and looked at my cabs and pulled the striker off the 49 cab that is one of the doner cabs for my stretch cab and put it on the 53 cab behind it.

The first photo is the door post of the 53 cab minus the striker.

The second photo is the 53 door post with the 49 striker up against it. As far as I can see it fits fine.

[mr48chev]

Sorry about the photo size there. Photo bucket is giving me problems and I can't upload or share photos off Photobucket right now.

[oldnslow]

Thanks for the help, after reading a lot of horror stories about stock latches, I decided to use the bear claw style. As the doors and jambs are already painted I went with the Altman kit. There's a link on the Hamb showing how to modify them to lock from the inside, I will let you know how the mod works.

[mknittle]

Altman is too expencive for me.nice though.

[wildearp]

Originally Posted by mr48chev

It's been done quite often. I'd imagine that most guys have modified the door jamb to get the striker to fit.

Personally, unless it is going to end up with the appearance of a restored factory stock truck I would get rid of the stock latches and install bear claw style latches for safety reasons. The stock latches are well know for opening at the wrong time including when my wife fell out of my 48 going around a turn 34 years ago.

Bearclaws go in quick if you are a decent fabricator. They probably have bolt in kits now. They are much safer, and you can close your door with a very light touch.

[DMViergever]

Do door popper kids do a similar thing as bear class?
Posted via Mobile Device

[mr48chev]

Originally Posted by DMViergever

Do door popper kids do a similar thing as bear class?
Posted via Mobile Device

No, what I know as door poppers are the spring loaded pins that push the door open when you have shaved the door handles.

The bear claw latches work by clamping around the pin that is on the door post and are usually a lot more reliable than the stock AD truck hinges.

If you drive one of these trucks long enough with stock door latches sooner or later the latch and striker are going to wear enough for the door to pop open when you don't want it to or expect it to.

As I mentioned earlier my wife fell out of my truck on a turn in 1978. She had a bad habit of sitting sideways in the seat and leaning against the door. She still packs scars on her face and knees from that tumble 34 years later.

[mknittle]

Originally Posted by mr48chev

No, what I know as door poppers are the spring loaded pins that push the door open when you have shaved the door handles.

.

Exactley.