Sorry to disagree ClubWagon but being in the auto glass replacement biz I've seen how wear and tear alone creates these unforeseeable instances of damage to many many latches, handles and every other part inside a hinged door. It is measurable because once a part begins to fail there is a noticeable difference in the feel or effort required to operate. Then again 99% of people are NOT enthusiastic enough about DIY auto repairs which is why my business thrives. Those of us gathered here like to do things on our own which makes us the minority.

I'll agree the plastic stops can be an issue but will still stand by my contention this isn't all that common an occurrence. There might be a better fix to consider and easy to find though. There are crimpable end stops for wire rope or cable as we typically call it---think of spring loaded garage door counterbalances. These little buttons can be sized and crimped into place with a C clamp or similar essentially replacing the failed plastic pieces. If this is that big a problem for any one person they can invest in more specialized tooling---perhaps doing it on the side for family and friends or fun and profit?

It's an aggravation for certain and usually noticeable long before they fail completely---USUALLY! Things happen, griping about a manufacturer's problem here won't help---we need to take this directly to Ford and maybe they'll react accordingly?

Best of luck!

 

Sorry, but you seem to be missing the point completely. In this case typical minor latch wear may actually decrease effort & stress on the critical part. The failure has to do w/cheap inferior plastic used where low cost metal ferrules would have made the design bulletproof.

There is no issue with "crimpable end stops for wire rope or cable". Its the inadequate plastic ferrules on the ends of the cable's sheath that crumble.

 

The waterdrain cable on my 02 e350 diesel broke the third time I pulled it, right after the warranty ran out. I'd like to see whats left of the body and chasis at about 500k miles

 

Strike the last comment I made......they just are not staying put (maybe if this 1 ton rode like a minivan)! There is a lot of pressure on those ends when pulling and getting the two ends into the same area on the main door (side or rear) proved too much for my redneck/duct tape/adjustable cable stop barrels...Maybe JB weld? Just kidding. Worth the sanity to just get the new ones....now if I could just get those part numbers cause they are not coming up on ford's site....

 

my 4 cables were $800 at the dealer

 

I think you might have been ripped off, unless that was the installed price and that's too high too. We just had the same thing done to our 92 E350 at church (just found out they did it last week) and I found out each door was about $50, so $200 in all (side and rear doors) and those were ford oem parts. Local bodyshop put them on for $150 labor which is 3 hours at $50 per hour and after taking everything apart and fiddeling with it, 3 hours seems right. If you paid that much and there wasn't something drasticly different....I'd have a talk with them, then the better business bureau, then the credit/debit card company if you used one!

 

Hey Club Wagon, did you see DaviMac424's solution posted in another thread at the end of 2010? Seems it might be the quick & easy solution you're looking for. I don't know if you'd consider $20 per door cheap, but I do given the nearly $300 Ford Parts quoted me for the parts needed to replace the busted ferrules in both rear doors on my '92 E350 Econoline Van. Unfortunately, it looks like DaviMac424 got talked out of making his solution commercially available. If you or anyone else is interested in getting his solution please bump the above linked thread or his similar thread on PowerStroke.org

-Sam

 

Hey thunksalot, did you see how odd a delayed response can look, when you neglect to read thru a thread before replying?

By addressing my concerns I was pretty well convinced "It. Could. Work." & was interested in giving this solution a trial. Didn't see the little bits of nylon being worth even $1 each commercially though.

 

I did read through this thread before replying, but I apologize if I misunderstood the dialogue. As far as I could tell, you still had not found a solution. Someone said they had found a solution using bicycle parts but it seemed like you tried that potential solution without any luck...

I'm probably making a mistake somehow because I still don't see a post after this one that announces a final solution. If you did find a solution, could you please recap it for me, or direct me to the post where you explained it? That would probably be very helpful for others as well.

Thanks! I just want a simple solution and so far haven't found one.

-Sam

 

I'm going to try these,

Vehicle Parts & Accessories

Got my '01 E350 last Fall, I have the secondary side door refusing to open. Over the winter, I bookmarked the above link, can't remember where I found them, but as I recall someone had decent results with them.

Has anybody had any luck manually tripping the latches on the secondary side door ? I can see some slight movement on the top latch, using the cable, but none on the bottom latch. The bottom latch may actually be jammed, as the ball end of the cable is ripped out of the door handle - but maybe these handles are just weak... not sure yet. Haven't broken out the really big pry bars, in my limited experience, finesse works much better with latches than massive force, at least on something not being scrapped.

I've got a straight shot at the mounting bolts on the side door upper latch, but the bottom one is blocked - there is about a 6" x 1" small housing tacked on to the door, effectively blocking access to the mounting bolts for the lower side door latch.

Any suggestions, short of cutting torches/angle grinders ? (I have those, just prefer not to break 'em out just yet).

Rdgs, D.

 

Hey 3930Dave,

Thanks for posting the link to the aluminum ferrules being sold at OK Market. I never found those in all my searching! Looks like they are charging $10 per "end connector" (as they call them), which is quite a bit more than DaviMac424's solution which is $3.33 per connector. Some folks say they've been able to make $2 bicycle connectors work but I feel more comfortable with a solution designed for the problem - especially when it's only a buck more. DaviMac424 is working on making me enough ferrule replacements to do my whole van, so - if you were interested in giving his solution a try - now would probably be a good time to contact him. Who knows, it may worth it to pay $7 more for OK Market's aluminum ones, but I figure if cheap rubber ferrules held up for 15 years, solid nylon ones should be able to get me another 10.

I'm primarily focused on my rear doors right now, so don't have any advice for you on the side doors. Best of luck with your repair.

-Sam

 

That sounds like a good deal Sam. A decent grade of nylon should stand up well, even an basic nylon should last longer than what Ford started using later.

I'll PM Davi, to find out if they work on mine ('01).

When you get a minute, pls post here as to how these work out on your rear door.

Rgds, Dave.

 

Sam - one more favour if I may, if you are in touch with DaviMac, let him know somebody (me) is trying to figure out if these ferrules work on later Econolines, 2001 in my case.

I tried to PM him just now, but either you can't PM on here, I haven't figured out how, or a lot of people don't enable PM'ing in their profile - not sure which case applies ?

(I did post to that old original thread, but I don't want to just count on him watching that one).

But yes, if these do work on later E trucks, I'd like to order some, b4 he shuts off his lathe.

Rgds, Dave.

 

Sure thing, Dave. I dropped him an email to alert him to your posts. I imagine he'll be in touch soon.

When I get mine I'll be happy to post how they work out.

 

Thnx for doing that.

Rgds, Dave.