...of my driver's side door. I replaced the latch mechanism today, a pretty easy job actually. The plastic coating on the "claw" had been worn through from sagging hinges and the latch was not moving freely, which caused me to have to slam the door several times to make it latch. I tried lubing everything, adjusting the latch pin and hinges, but I finally had to spend the $80 for a new latch. I was starting to dread getting in the truck, sometimes I had to slam the door 5 or 6 times on a cold morning.

So as not to ruin my nice new latch, I also replaced the lower hinge pin and bushing. It's not too bad if you have help to keep the door from falling off the jack. The kit came with upper and lower pins and bushings, but the top hinge was fine so I didn't mess with it. The kit I used is Help!/Motormite # 38386, cost less than $5 at Advance Auto. Pretty much every chain store has the Help! stuff, so it should be easy to find.

I sat in the truck for about 5 minutes opening and closing the door. Oh what a feeling.

 

Ah, the simple things in life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I also used the Help package on the lower drivers side after dealing with the repeated door closing attempts

Easy fix and works great


Den

 

How's the condition of your "latch post" on the door jam? This is the part the latch grabs. Mine has a groove worn in it. I suppose this would be a dealer item.

 

Mine has a groove, but I turned it so it faces out instead of up. I plan to replace it at some point. It is a dealer (or junkyard) item. I bet most of the passenger side pins in the junkyard are good. I noticed when buying the latch that the passenger side unit was $20 cheaper. They see ya comin' on that one - supply and demand, baby!

 

I fixed my latch pin with a few licks of the mig and a little grinding it was as good as new Ken

 

Help line also has the Latch pins, Atleast they had one for my ol Fummins so they should have them for about everything.