15 Door Latch Spring

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Model T Ford Forum: Forum 2012: 15 Door Latch Spring
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By mike_black on Thursday, April 26, 2012 - 09:12 pm:

Any ideas where to start looking for one? What are they supposed to look like? Mine was shaped like a flat banana, aprox 3/8 wide, 1/16 thick, 2in long. I tried to bend it more to get more tension and it broke. The 14-16 latches go up and down, not in and out. The search function didn't reveal much. I'm open for suggestions!


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By mike_black on Friday, April 27, 2012 - 07:44 am:

bump


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Roger Karlsson, southern Sweden on Friday, April 27, 2012 - 08:37 am:

The whole latch is available from the vendors - perhaps the spring solution the repro latch maker uses can be determined?

http://www.modeltford.com/item/5680X.aspx


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Hap Tucker on Friday, April 27, 2012 - 10:36 am:

Mike,

Sorry but I don’t know what the spring looks like. Note there are also two different 1914-early 1916 style latches that have the vertical up and down bolt function. The spring may be different from one design to the other.

Hopefully someone has taken one apart and can tell us?

Below are the two styles I am familiar with:

From e-bay:



From Jim Cook's "Oh Henry" Oct 1915 cut off:



Second style:

From e-bay:





Installed on the car:



If the spring is not working I would suggest take the latch apart. You may be able to figure out where the spring and what type of spring was used form the worn areas and/or possible imprint on the metal (rust etc.) If not -- please post photos or send them and others can probably help out. There are several places you can order door latch springs from -- and as long as it is close to the same type -- it probably can be adapted. And from memory I think one place also sells different size spring stock so you can make any spring you would like to make.

I'm looking forward to what is discovered as Blackie also needs a right front door latch spring (of course that is minor compared to what else it needs).

Respectfully submitted,

Hap l9l5 cut off


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ron Dupree on Friday, April 27, 2012 - 08:19 pm:

I am assuming you are talking about an open car door latch. If so, this is what my 1916 latch looked like when disassembled:

Door latch

Note that the latch spring is a typical spiral design, used on many autos. To my knowledge this is NOT being reproduced by anyone.

This is a closeup of the spring-

spring

I finally sent a good spring to http://www.restorationspecialties.com/ in Pennsylvania to match. They did not have an exact match, but did have something close enough that I could make it work.

By the way, the latch is not difficult to rebuild. You grind off the ends of the pin that the lever rotates around, then make a new pin that can be put back into place, and have the ends peened back over.

Ron Dupree


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Hap Tucker on Friday, April 27, 2012 - 09:26 pm:

Ron,

Yes, Mike is working on a 1915 open car (a touring I think). I remember that from a previous posting.

Did you happen to record which spring the Restorations Specialties found that was "close enough" to make it work? If so please let us know (or do you think they will have written it down?).

If not do you know approximately how thick the spring is? Some companies offer that type of spring in several thicknesses.

I have also wondered if some of the body makers used one style while other body makers used the other style. If so that might help us identify who produced the body.

Thank you so much for posting the exploded view of what I have been calling "1914-196 type 2" latch. I still am trying to figure out if both styles were used the entire time or if one was used first etc.


Respectfully submitted,

Hap l9l5 cut off


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By mike_black on Saturday, April 28, 2012 - 08:14 am:

Thanks Hap and Ron,
Mine are Hap's "Type 1", of which the latch itself appears to be made of a 1/8 X 1 X 2 flat stock with the handle on the middle that rotates, lifting up the bar to drop down into the groove of the striker. Looks like if ever taken apart, they'll have to be welded back together--I don't think there would be enough of the tab ends to re-brad. I've got an idea using part of the recoil spring from a weedeater. I'll let you know if it works.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By mike_black on Saturday, April 28, 2012 - 01:07 pm:

OK--it's working like brand new! I'm sure originally it was like Ron's, but had been repaired the way I re-repaired it. Without tearing it apart, I used a piece if spring steel from a recoil starter from a weedeater (shown in 1st pic), cut a piece aprox 2in long and punched a hole in it near one end with my air hole puncher, run a screw thru the spring hole and put a sparkplug thumb nut on it then inserted the assembly into the latch with the screw sticking up into a hole and put another thumb nut on it to secure it. I used my cuttoff tool to grind out clearance for the nut in the wood where the latch mounts to the door and installed it. The 2nd pic is completed showing a piece of what I used and the aprox location( the real one goes inside the steel housing).


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Hap Tucker on Saturday, April 28, 2012 - 08:58 pm:

Mike,

Thanks for the update. I'm glad you got it working. I'm a little tired from cutting up tree limbs (they sure don't cut up as easily as the did 30 years ago). Please confirm that I am understanding your fix correctly. The two inches or so of recoil starter spring from a weedeater would be positioned like you show in the second photo -- only inside the latch. And when the door lever is pulled to open the door it pushes/compresses the spring up towards what in the picture is the left hand top corner of the latch. Is that close to how it works?

Again thank you for sharing the solution. We don't need to reinvent the wheel (or in this case spring) if someone else will loan us their lesson.

Respectfully submitted,

Hap l9l5 cut off


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By mike_black on Saturday, April 28, 2012 - 09:11 pm:

That's exactly it. No disassembly required!


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Hap Tucker on Saturday, April 28, 2012 - 09:49 pm:

Mike,

Thanks! That sounds a lot easier than taking the door latch apart.

Respectfully submitted,

Hap l9l5 cut off


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