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Read this post and was interested since my passenger door rattled on bumps. Picket up the Feeeeord part and installed it and indeed fixed mine also. But wondered what caused the rattle in the first place.
I'm going to paint the car so am stripping the body parts and started with the doors.
I'm also going to clean and lube window parts and replace the glass while I'm at it.
So I pulled the latches to clean them up. Here is what I found to be the cause of the rattle. This is a picture of the drivers door latch held upside down so you can see the cause.

And one from the side.


As you can see the metal part that rest on top of the body strike bolt of the door frame has almost worn all the way through the slope of the latch.
What I'm currently doing is filling the groove with my wire welder and will grind it smooth with a dremel stone. Should be as good as new and harder metal when done. Will probably wear the strike bolt faster, but those are replaceable anyway...

So one of the reasons the Ford bolt fixes the rattle problem is it makes up for the worn part of the latch due to the larger size of the end on the bolt. This allows the bolt to contact the rubber block at the end of the latch again and make the door solid.
Once I have the latch rebuilt I'll put the original strike bolt back in and should be good.

I would imagine the more worn you door hinge pins are the more it wears the latch since the slope of the latch has to lift the door back up into the correct alignment each time you close the door.

[This message has been edited by Dodgerunner (edited 07-20-2009).]

Hey Dodgerunner,

Thanks for posting your find. Last week I tried ordering the Help! brand part number 38421 as stated in several threads, but according to our national car parts store here in Canada (Canadian Tire), the company Help! has discontinued the part. At least that's what they said. So now I'm thinking of doing the same as you. Are you dismantling the latch to weld-fill the worn part, or are you trying to do it with the latch assembled?

Nice detective work, Dodgerunner! I am glad we are finally getting at the origins of this common problem.

For those of us without a welding experience, is there an option to purchase a replacement part and fix the latch?

Blooz, I did it with the latch assembled but out of the car of course. Using a wire welder was able to shoot the weld fairly well since the frame of the latch holds the gas around the area. I did cut up a tin can to line the sides, top and back rubber part so if there was splatter it would not stick any where but there was very little with the welder set correctly.
I smoothed it down, hit two small places again and had a nice fill.
Once I have the passenger side done I'll probably put the stock bolt back so will have one of the FORD strike bolts if someone would be interested in it for a couple bucks. I paid $8 for it. Be a couple weeks before I have that side done.

Sjmaye, can't imagine there is a replacement part since the ramp is part of the complete latch.

Thanks for the explanation Dodgerunner. I'm gonna try it your way.

After trying one latch welding it in the latch decided that was to much work trying to grind it smooth. So did this one differently.

The ramp in the latch is held with two tabs that are swedged to keep the rap in place. You simply grind them off flush and the ramp comes right out.


Once you have the rap out you can weld it up nice to fill the groove and then grind it off fairly smooth. It does not have to be perfect since the strike bolt will wear it smooth fairly quickly.


Put it back in and tack it back in place and your good to go.

I straighten the plate a bit from how it was. It was bent so it was resting on the bottom of the opening. since I put it in straight to make it nice and tight I added a little tack to support the start of the ramp. Hopefully will be good for many years.

[This message has been edited by Dodgerunner (edited 08-08-2009).]

Great write up and pics there Dodgerunner. A "+" for you.

Just changed my strikers door today with Motormite 38421 took 10 minutes to install and it's day and night
Took the number at my auto parts he ordered them and 2 hours later they were on the car .
The auto parts guy was right at the place they buy them . so he just phone him to bring them .
And after i went for the test drive going by the rough roads i know and no noise .WOW"

Yes they do solve the problem. The head is bigger on the Ford ones so it makes up for the wear.
If your ramp is grooved like mine is it will fix it until the groove is enlarged more by the new head then it "might" be back to the same state. My one in the picture above was almost all the way through. I'm guessing once it cuts all the way through you will have the condition of where the door seems to stick shut when you try to open it and you have to push hard to get it to open.

Lets not forget that as the door hinges wore, the door began to slowly sag allowing the latch bolt to contact the area you had wear so the hinges will likely need rebuilding also.

Steve

Dodgerunner,

You second part hear even better describes the fix. Nice job! In as much I have had the door apart many times I have never removed the latch mechanism. Just how much disassembly is needed to get the latch assembly out?
Just the inner door panel?

I have been thinking of your fix since your first post. The part I have been thinking of is how we could make a modified striker bolt head that would reduce the wear. Even like replacing the head with the right sized cam bearing.

I know. I have to remember the car is 20+ years old. Do the fix and you are good for 20 more.

[This message has been edited by sjmaye (edited 08-09-2009).]

Yes I have thought of a strike bolt with a bearing on it also.
Would have to cut the end of the bolt down so a small bearing could be fit on and have a way to retain it.
Then would have to have a way to tighten the strike bolt. Maybe a hole drilled through the base of the shaft that you insert a pin to tighten the bolt. You can't put flats on the shaft since the door latch grips the shaft to keep the door shut and the flats would cause play.
I have thought of making up some test prototypes.