VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1949-1954 Striker plat adjustment '49 Chevy PU.

Good morning all,

Was prepping a friends' (the guy who sold me my '30 sedan) truck for a car show this week end. Very high quality restoration but...... the doors have to be slammed HARD to get them to latch completely and it was hard to get it off the first stage when trying to close it a second time. I fiddled with it and that's OK now. Maybe not such a high quality resto after all?? So hard that if the whiskers and channel guides weren't new the window would probably have cracked by now. I asked him about it and he said several have tried to get them adjusted and have failed. I did too. It's not like I'm trying to decode the human genome here. It's only a striker plate adjustment. THere isn't a lot of adjustment available so I assume the factory had everything pretty well fitted when the doors and body were stamped.

The latches, striker plates and door handle hardware are new. THe door fit to body is good. But... once the door latches, it is out about an eighth. Doesn't have ten coats each of primer, filler, and clear on the jamb and door. The locks engage and release properly. The inside handles don't move freely and won't return to the neutral position when released, but do when the door is fully latched. Exterior handle is fine. Something is binding behind the panel but even if the interior handle is placed in the neutral position manually there is no difference.

I took the rubber bumpers out of the striker plates and tried to adjust them. No luck. I considered shaving the bumpers down as a test but didn't want to, not have it work and have carved up looking bumpers on otherwise pristine looking latches and striker plates.. If someone here has had the problem and shaving the bumpers worked I'll order some thinner ones and try them or machine some out of delrin and retain them with screws. I'm going to pull the door panels, free up the linkage so the handle returns properly. But I don't think the bind is related to the latch not seating all the way in the plate.

Tony

First I will say the 1947-1951 AD truck door lock (latch) and strikers gave problems from new on. Very difficult to adjust so door would close easily. Also the strikers were subject to rapid wear.
I would suspect if new (reproduction?) locks and strikers were used they may be inferior to the already iffy originals, and that, along with the reproduction weather strip available today, which is harder than the original from my experiance, make satisfactory door adjustment next to impossible.

Thanks Gene,

Had no idea that it was difficult but it makes sense. I did wonder at the small amount of adjustment available and that it has the 90* break at the pillar limiting in board travel.

I didn't think about the kind of and the firmness of the weatherstrip.The truck will be here Sunday so I'll check that out.

May have to consider it a feature rather than a defect.

TOny

Don't feel like your the only one. I spend 2 hours after every trip messing with my latches as well. And I have figured out slamming them shut doesn't work either.
Try taking the door latch part off and place rubber or plastic shims behind them to kick them out a bit as that seemed to help on some of my doors.
Once you get them right or close I used a fine sharpe and outline the latch on the door post.

I had the same problem with our 49, had bought new stricker plates still not very good.Talked to a friend that works in a shop that does a lot of street rods and they had modified the strikers by welding a small piece on the lower part of the opening. I think I started with 1/8 thick and ground to fit, was a decent improvement. I still had the old strikers so had nothing to lose.

Good morning,

Just read your responses. THank you.

Dens41, I'm not clear where you added the material.

As near as I can tell, I have to move the striker plate in. A Steele Rubber weatherstrip kit is installed. A member here mentioned that the profile may be causing the problem. THey are installed correctly, smooth around the corners and seated properly.

We had a big car show here last weekend. The truck won a class trophy. (Maybe I should consider the fit a feature not a defect, or a lucky talisman.)I was talking with another owner and he confirmed that the the problem is fairly common and the Steele Rubber strip is a little thicker and firmer than the original. Also that ClassicParts has one that is closer to the originals. At $20 per door maybe give that a try. His truck had been hot rodded, handles removed and the latches operated by a remote, so no telling what he had for a latch and striker plate.

THe owner may have kept the old plates and if so I'll check and compare the dimensions.

Other option is to mill some material off the back of the narrow side of the ninety to allow it to go back a little more. May have to remove some material to allow the mounting plates to slide in a little more. We shall see. Bad dreams of the die grinder slipping and scarring the paint on the pillar however. .

Tomorrow Classic Blue single stage goes on my thirty. Blue hair by noon. First of the month, good time to start getting the credit card balance up.