1971 door handle button sticking
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Cross-Country
Joined: May 2021
Posts: 54
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From: northern Michigan
1971 door handle button sticking
Looking for tips. The button that is pressed to open the cab door on my 1971 f100 has a shaft sticking out its backside. That shaft presses on a plate that pivots to open the door when the button is pressed. If the button on the door handle is pressed too hard (too far in) the shaft pushes the plate too far on its pivot and the shaft slides over the top of the plate and gets suck there. When this happens that exterior door handle is rendered inoperable. Aside from removing the whole assembly and drilling a small detent in the plate for the shaft to mate to, what else can be done to prevent this. Obviously I could just not press the button too far in, but other people mainly my kids like to play in the truck while I am working on it. So what do you all suggest? if drilling a small detent in the plate is the only option how difficult is it to remove the handle assembly?
Lead Driver
Joined: Jul 2017
Posts: 9,600
Likes: 1,174
From: San Jose, CA
While I've never had that exact problem, it might be overcome with some adjustments inside the door. Maybe you've tried that already?
I've found most of the time the mechanism is very gummy and a good cleaning and re-lubing will loosen things up so you don't have to push the exterior buttons and interior levers near as hard. This reduces flex of the rods, but flexing rods is likely the opposite of your issue of over-travel. However, maybe the latch mechanism just needs a bit of tweaking.
I've fixed latches with cleaning and lubing and then bending a lever within the latch assembly that pushes another. Maybe one of these levers and/or plates in yours is bent, or shifted out of place?
Sorry I don't have an exact answer for you, but maybe a closer inspection the next time you have the latch out will show the underlying issue.
Good luck.
Paul
I've found most of the time the mechanism is very gummy and a good cleaning and re-lubing will loosen things up so you don't have to push the exterior buttons and interior levers near as hard. This reduces flex of the rods, but flexing rods is likely the opposite of your issue of over-travel. However, maybe the latch mechanism just needs a bit of tweaking.
I've fixed latches with cleaning and lubing and then bending a lever within the latch assembly that pushes another. Maybe one of these levers and/or plates in yours is bent, or shifted out of place?
Sorry I don't have an exact answer for you, but maybe a closer inspection the next time you have the latch out will show the underlying issue.
Good luck.
Paul
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