1953 Ford Customline door latches

J

JAKEFORD

Senior Member
I was just thinking about my old 53 and remember this incident. My mother was sitting in the passenger seat and I made a left turn kind of quick. The passenger door flung open and I almost lost my mother. It was a 4 door. A friend of mine (now a SK) had a similar experience in a 2 door. the door flung open, his friend grabbed the seat, and the seat bolt pulled thru the rusty floor. He grabbed the top of the door frame and was OK.

After this incident, I bought a new latch and fitted it properly but never had confidence in it. It was a terrible design. On an old 1950 in the wreck pile I found a new improved latch that I installed and never had any more problems with mom falling out. I can't remember this latch but it was similar to to the 1956 design and wrapped around the sprocket somehow.

I also slowed down going thru corners.
 
I have never had problems with the 50-53 latch. I just make sure all the parts are in good shape before I trust them. How much wear were in the latches and how much rust was in the bodies on the cars where you experienced failures?
 
As I remember them, the latches were made from an aluminum alloy that in some examples was soft and wore easily. The early ones from 1949-50 were tougher and lasted longer.

And what made them wear out? It was the rough country roads and constant vibration. The latch would move out of position on the jamb and in the process would become worn and loose.

I found if you took a piece of emery paper, folded it in half and fitted it between the latch and the door jamb, you would stop all vibration movement and things would last longer. The situation was finally resolved in 1955 or 56 with the "life Guard" design.

But the original design was not good.

BTW both the cars that had the doors fly open were rust free western cars.
 
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