Ladies and Gents, what a debacle. Looking for a little guidance.

I have a 1995 f150 XL that was recently sideswiped by a fine upstanding citizen without car insurance.

Due to body damage from the accident, I had to replace my driver side fender and driver side door. So I replaced my damaged 1995 f150 XL's driver side door with a donor door from a 1996 f150 XL. I purchased both doors from the 1996 donor truck, but the passenger door from the donor was a little rusted out, and my original passenger side door was still fine. So I installed the drivers side door, salvaged a few good parts out of the rusted donor passenger door, then tossed it and my damaged driver side door out at the scrap yard.

Well wouldn't you know it. 2 weeks later when the new lock cylinders arrive from LMC, I realize that the locks that were designed for the 1995 doors and the locks designed for the 1996 doors are substantially different (yes, I've recently discovered the picture regularly passed around the forum with the red background showing the three generations of lock cylinders and how they are not the same).

So. Once again. Im an idiot and made a rookie mistake. Space is tight in NYC, but I should NOT have thrown out that donor passenger door so hastily.

It seems that I have two options.

1. Swallow my pride and go out and get *another* 1996 door and install it on the otherwise fine passenger side (head slap)
2. Order a lock cylinder for the donor 1996 door and deal with the fact that I now have three seperate keys for the truck: driver door, passenger door, and ignition (head slap)


Im hoping there is a genius out there who has a fix or adaptation or will tell me "kid, are you crazy, just put in a new set of 1996 (or 1995) cylinders into both doors - the designs a little different, but either will work just fine."

Thanks in advance.

PS This would actually be the third set of doors I've bought for this repair (the first set had the wrong mirror setup). (Head slap).

"God help me help my stupid self."

 

FWIW, Purchase a matching door/ignition lockset and install an aftermarket keyless entry so you won't have to deal with 2 different door entry keys and have an upgraded convenience. Just an option.

 

I’m fairly inexperienced, but can an aftermarket keyless entry system work on a manual door lock XL door? Or does it require electric door controls to tap into?

 

Most kits come with new "bayonet" style door lock actuators, they are very reliable and usually cost less than $7 each. When my 2000 F250 SD door locks went bad I installed these same aftermarket actuators rather than spending $80 each on factory units, they have been in there for 12 years now. To install the kit will require mounting the receiver and running wires to each door to the door lock actuators, you could also take it to a local car audio/alarm installation shop and let them do it. I realize this is sounding much more involved than you previously asked for, but once installed and used the convenience of keyless entry will usually far outweigh the costs involved. Hope this helps

 

Any help is appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to explain it. At this point, going out and buying one more 96 door and installing it on the passenger side seems like a pain, but better in the long run to keep things consistent.

Wish I hadn’t been in such a hurry to toss out the other donor door. But it’s not a tremendous expense. Just a bummer.

 

Have the door key cut on one side for the driver's door and cut on the other side for the passenger door. File a notch in the key that is cut for the driver's door for identification.

Hobo

 

Wow. That’s a wild idea. Never would have thought of that in a million years.

So what would you do? Bring both keys to a locksmith, have him make a new key with the two different sides? They can do that?

 

That's what you can do. Only one side of the key unlocks the door, so you can have one key that will open two different locks.

 

File out the lock opening in the 95 door to accept the 96 up style lock. The 96 up style lock is slightly larger.

The 92-95 locks use a different key design than the 96 up so you can't grind a single key to match both.

Also, you can get premium llocks made by Hurd, the OEM supplier to Ford right on Amazon.
They have the 92-95 door and ignition set and also I have the part number to get for the 96 up replacements (which lists models other than the F/Bronco but seller assured me they were the same)

 

Wow. You guys are a wealth of knowledge. Thank you so much for your time.

Ill give the file a shot before I go off in search of another door. Thank you!

If you have the part number for that 96 up cylinder from Hurd, please do send it my way.

Once again, thank all of you.

 

The seller told me that this will fit the 96/97 OBS even though the listing says Ranger..


and this is the 92-95


If you wait you can usually get these down in the mid $70 range. Not sure why Amazon bounces their prices around so much. I just bought the 92/95 for $74 last month.

And before you start filing on the door just make sure that all of the <95 linkages will work with the >96 lock.

 

Awesome. Thank you.

Now, as this will be my second time screwing up, in an effort to learn my lesson, I would be remiss not to ask this question: are the ignition mechanisms (key and ignition cylinder) for the 95’s and the the 96’s the same? In other words, if I order a set for the 96, it will now work for the doors, but will it work to replace my 95 ignition cylinder?

 

Most people, including me, will say do so at your own risk. Several people say no, the ign cylinders won't exchange.
Now I am not recommending this, but I will state with certainty that I swapped my 93 and my 97HD ign. cylinders and they both work in each other's steering columns.
There may be some intricacy that I overlooked, so again, do so at your own risk.

 

Understood. Thanks again.

 

After all that (and your great suggestions) I ordered the 96 style locks, and it turns out that my 1995 must’ve been made late that year, bc the old passenger door (from 95) accepted the 1996 lock cylinder just fine. So odd.

Now. Something is still a little off though. And pardon me if this description sucks, but i can’t seem to find a clear way to describe the issue. Here goes:

Miracle of miracles, on the passenger side door from 1995 (where I expected the problems installing a 96 lock cylinder), I installed the lock cylinder and everything is peachy. When I turn the door key, there are 3 distinct stops: lock, middle, unlock. It’s tight. It feels like it’s working like a new part should.

On the donor driver side door (‘96), the new ‘96 lock cylinder i installed works okay, but the key movement is kinda “loose.” It feels sloppy. Like, when the door is unlocked and I insert the key, the key flops to the unlock position by itself (no resistance to turning that way at all). Same in the lock position. The middle position seems somewhat ambiguous.

I’m guessing that this has nothing to do with the lock cylinder. I’m guessing that the problem must have something to do with the rod that goes down to the latch assembly or the latch assembly itself. Could that mechanism be worn out (seems entirely possible on a driver side door that would see a lot more use than a passenger door)?

This seems to jive with the fact that when I close the door, it doesn’t rattle or anything while driving (usually a striker bushing problem), but it doesn’t “pop” open when I use the interior door handle. It’s seems to just kinda “lazily let go” of the striker and open.