Does anyone have experience with replacing the remote spring on the inside door handle plate for 40-47 truck? I have the replacement from Vintique but it is a mystery (to me) how to get it into the works. This spring is a single bent piece that slips into the sheet metal housing the handle and plate and it keeps the handle from slipping into the forward lock position. There is a round bend in the spring that presses into the curve in the plate and prevents this unless the handle is rotated forward instead of backward to open the door. Looks like the spring was slid into the housing and then the handle and plate inserted and the assembly swaged to keep it together. I'm trying not to take it apart but still get the spring into the housing. Anyone done this?

Elder Rodder

 

OK, it's been a couple of months since I posted this question and I'm going to answer it because I found a way to do it. After struggling with the mechanism through the opening in the door it occurred to me that it was unlikely that I could get in a good enough position to get the spring in. This was complicated by doubting that I could get it in anyway. I finally decided to remove the whole latch unit which has the lockset going through it and to release that I had to back-off the allen headed screw that keeps the lockset in place. The outside door handle had to be removed and this was done by holding the inside door handle all of the way in the open position while turning the outside handle to a 45 degree angle and working it straight out. After removing the three screws from the inside handle area and the two inside screws from the inside of the door back by the edge and the two screws that hold the mechanism on the door end I removed the latch unit through the door opening. I put this on my bench and gave it a look-over. I had tried to insert the spring through the opening that it pokes through but it was obvious that there was too great a curve on the end to pass. This is a spring that I bought from Bob Drake and was made by Vintique. So.... I figured if it was going to go in at all, it was going to have to go in from the other direction. I took my channel lock pliers and after working the squiggle end of the spring through the retainer opening, I started to squeeze on the curved part of the spring and the housing. All of a sudden as the spring started into the stamped housing there was a ping sound and I heard the spring bouncing around the shop and then to the floor, somewhere in the shop. I looked for a few minutes and then got the second spring that I had ordered in case the first one broke while installing. I managed to cover this with one hand while squeezing the pliers in the other. This time I felt the spring give and then snapped into place through the housing and into the curved depression of the handle mechanism. Success! I reversed the process and put the latch mechanism back into the door, put the handle back in and the lockset too. The inside handle was put back on and I rotated it forward until it clicked right into the inside lock position. Then I tried it back in the open position and it worked ok. The funny part of the whole process was when my wife came into the shop and asked what I was doing. I described losing the first spring and showed her what it looked like in the lockset. She turned around and on the other side of the bench picked it off the floor and said "like this one"? I was so sure that it was in the far end of the shop that I didn't look just on the floor near the bench. We had a good laugh about that. Well, anyway, that's how I did it. One thing to be careful of is that if both of the handles are indexed to the lock position and the doors closed then the lockset will not unlock the right door. It will unlock the right door if the key was used to lock it. You would have to index the driver's door handle to lock position and then lock the right door from the outside key lock. The springs are necessary to keep the inside handles from dropping into lock position on their own, or keep them there if locked.

Elder Rodder

 

Very good description on how to do the spring replacement. It's one of those little parts you forget about, until the door handle flops forward and locks the door on accident.

 

Thanks '46. The part where you mention the handle flopping forward and locking is true and it makes me remember that I've seen '40s with handles at two o'clock and at 7 o'clock. Which was the OEM correct way? Also, I replaced the firewall and floor in my '40 PU and I can't remember just where the emergency brake cable went through the floor and what the seal looked like? This is the OEM hand brake under the dash between the steering and kick panel. If anyone has a pic of it going through I'd really like to see it. And, maybe what happens under the floor going back.
Thanks,
Elder Rodder

 

2 o clock is how I have seen every unrestored truck and all the Ford pictures. I think putting it at the 7 o'clock position is not the "correct" way to put it. After all, the 2 o clock position is also a more natural way to use the latch, 7 c'clock seems a weird way to put it. But to each his own I suppose.
I won't be able to get to my truck (out of town for work) until this Saturday afternoon, so if you don't get the needed info by then I will be glad to take some pictures and get them to you. The pix through the firewall should be the same from '40 and '46, however, I'm not sure about the way it runs under the truck since the '46 had a different frame. But on my '46 the cable runs down and has a clamp that holds it to one of the bolts on the shifter, and then runs along passenger side frame rail to the middle crossmembr slightly past the front of the bed and connects to the clevis that has the 2 cables that runs to the wheels.

 

'46,

Thanks, I'd like to see a pic of your emergency brake cable routing. A picture, as it is said, is worth a thousand words...

Elder Rodder

 

'46 Truck,

I still would like to see where your emergency brake goes through the floor or firewall. With my new firewall and floor I don't want to make a wrong cut if at all possible. Could you post a pic of your setup?

Elder Rodder

 

Elder, sorry about the lateness with the pix. I have been so busy with being out of town for work and planning on my baby son being born soon (any day now )I haven't even done anything with the '46 p/u. I will try to snap some shots for you this weekend if the rains let up (they predicting heavy rain showers for us this weekend). I'll get them to you ASAP.

 

Hey Elder Rodder or anyone listing., I need some help. Thanks for the remote latch removal info as I changed out the remote latch spring on my '40 PU in the manor you suggested. However in trying to reassemble, everything is in place almost, inner door latch works just fine ( however the replacement spring was not identical to the one I removed,), window rolls up and down. The problem I'm having is installing the outer door handle. I can get the handle shaft to go all the way in but it will not cycle/rotate. It acts like the door handle is locked? Where did I go wrong?

 

I figured it out. The key lock tumbler position inside the door latch had moved to the lock position. I reinserted the lock tumbler, turned it clockwise with the key to the unlock position and the exterior door handle worked just fine. This was my first time with this type repair and it was a good learning process. Now when I close the door it no longer automatically locks. Thanks for all the great helpful information posted here.