Door Locks

[stewart]

Guys,

Despite having gone for my first drive there are still a few 'little' problems' for me to solve. One of those is with my door locks. I can lock the doors but cannot open them again.

The reason for the problem is that when the door is locked, the floating block (for want of a better term) on the back of the lock itself that pushes the latch to release the door, will not turn back underneath/behind the latch. Essentially I guess the locking mechanism on the door is mounted too close to the outside surface of the door so that the gap between the floating block on the door lock and the latch is not large enough. If the floating block cannot get back underneath the latch of course you cannot push the latch and thus open the door.

Does this make sense?

If so, has anyone else had to overcome this problem and is there an easy solution? I could grind down the floating block a little as there is plenty of throw to still push the latch to open the door if I did this, although it is bit of a pain and I would rather an easier solution. I'm certainly not going to refit (and all that involves - new holes, fibreglass, painting!) the door latch.

Just another little hiccup along the way. Apologies for the non-technical language, but any assistance appreciated.

cheers,

[guy mayers]

I assume this is the part that is attached to the door handle lock barrel and has a small spigot to attach the lock pull rod?
If this is the case I made a mess of one of mine and ended up chamfering the "block" to give it a wedge shape that coult slide under the internal door mechanism. The only other alternative is to remove the internal mechanism and either grind off enough material from the mating face or cut a wedge out of the side, bend it enough and weld it up again. Other thtn that the mounting holes in the door need to be rotated slightly, the old ones filled and everything repainted.
Guy

[stewart]

Guy,

Your interpretation of my obtuse description was absolutely correct.

Paul Morton has provided me a picture of his solution. He has cut off the top of the 'latch' as I decribed it, the bit that the block with the spigot on it pushes against, and welded in a new piece at a more extreme angle. This then allows plenty of room for the 'block' to move as you turn the key.

It looks the easiest option. On the passenger side I could grind off the block to give that leverage angle as you did as the extra space needed is minimal. On the drivers side though I need a lot more space.

I couldn't rotate the mechanism on the door, as that would adjust the door closing. I would have to actually redo the hole the mechanism comes through to engage the catch on the door frame and also redrill the holes for the securing srews. Messy.

I knew there wouldn't be a 5 minute simple remedy!, but the one I've got now isn't too painful

Thanks heaps.