49' ford door latches suck.....

So we all know that the 49' shoebox door latches are not all that great. I cant drive five seconds without them popping open. Just thought Id get peoples input before I pick up some bear claws. Is there an easier solution.

 

my car had the same problem i installed the bear claw kit, it was super simple, it was easy to atach the power door acuator too
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/twekd1/detail?.dir=mail&.dnm=171cre2.jpg&.src=ph

 

I'm assuming my 49 Ford pickup will have the same (baddd) door latches. Doesn't anyone know for sure?

 

thanks man......anyone else have any experiences with bear claw latches

 

Yeah most are super simple and self explanatory... unless your dead set on using OEM parts, go for it.

 

I'm using bear claws in my 47 Ford - easy swap and works great. A tip to think about - mount bear claw on BODY side (instead of door side) - makes wiring simpler and mechanical actuation/backup easy.

 

Another bearclaw mounting location can be the bottom of the door with the striker pin in the threshold. It cleans up the jambs and you don't have to worry with up/down alignment of the latch and pin. I wished I would've thought of doing it that way before I installed mine.

 

any pics of these set-ups?

 

I can see potential problems with that location, but I'm not familiar with the original style latch...does it have a separate dovetail on the jamb?

Without a dovetail at the jamb to support the door your hinge pins would be taking a constant pounding as the car is driven, which would lead to early bushing problems or even stress cracking around the hinge mounting areas.
Also, in a side impact the door would be less able to keep the occupant inside because the door could bend outward on top as a persons body impacts it...with or without the dovetail.

For a show car it would be cool, but not for a driver...

 

I've got a '49 Ford as well and my drivers side latch wouldn't work worth a damm either. I was also going to order a set of bear claw latches because the shoebox experts warned me about these latches.

I ended up taking mine apart to find the spring was broken and the latch was gummed up with '50 years of crap. I cleaned the latch, installed a new spring from a spare latch I had and put everything back together. Its worked fine ever since. You may want to try replacing the latch or fixing yours before you spend the $$ on bear claws and fabrication, especially if your car is already painted. Just my $0.02.