The Ford Barn - 1931 Slant Window Drivers Door Spring Position

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1931 Slant Window Drivers Door Spring Position

Hello everyone,

On a ‘31 slant window door latch (and maybe others) there is a spring that goes behind the door handle. When it is missing the door tends to lock itself when you shut the door. It looks like it can go in 1 of 2 ways.. with the spring coming out the front or the latch, or out the rear of the latch.

It looks like there should be springs in all 4 doors; if so, all of mine are broken and missing. For a given location in the car, how do you know which way the spring should be installed?

Attached is a picture of a door latch that could go in the drivers door. Based on this picture, is the spring installed correctly assuming the position is the front drivers side door.. aka the drivers door. Or is it backwards?

Appreciate any feedback and thanks in advance.

Brian

Re: 1931 Slant Window Drivers Door Spring Position

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stage1gs (Post 2454222)

Brian - Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there is no way I’ve found to get that spring installed without bending the tabs on the back of the latch assembly and pulling the cover off. If you heat the tabs up with a pencil torch to red hot you might be able bend the tabs without breaking them, otherwise you’ll have to weld it back together. Once you get the cover off you’ll be able to figure out which way the spring goes.

This is not an uncommon issue as you might guess.