0Willcox Corvette

I posted this in another thread and will put this in a PDF on the site soon, but this may answer some questions for people about the door lock assembly. This should pretty much cover 1969-1982. The locks are almost twins.

Checking your Door Lock!

Check 8 to make sure it is not loose on the rivet! The rivet is shown by the number 9.

If you grab the lever 8 by both outer ends it should not move very much at all and if it is binding it can and will hit the lever 6 causing it not to fall back downward.

Check 6, if this is binding up the door will lock and not un-lock and the inside/outside handle(s) will work weird. Sometimes they will lock only to not lock the next time. Sometimes you won’t be able to get the door open on the inside but can on the out.

If the rivet holding 8 (marked by the number 9) gets worn out and it will allow 8 to **** sideways and put pressure on the number 6 lever. This pressure will not allow lever 6 to return to the needed downward position. If you look at the top end of 6 below is has a crook in it and this crook should fall all the way down when you lock is working fine. If the lock is not working correct it may be hanging up! If you can push it further downward with your finger, you might have a problem.



I had my shop take a lock apart and explode it for you guys!

Now look at the picture below you can see lever 6 out of the latch. The slot number 13 rides on the tab number 14. In the case with this latch, there was actually a little hump from ware in the lever almost exactly opposite from the yellow line on number 13 which was binding up the lever 6 and not allowing it to fall all the way down.

18243

In the picture below you will also notice the levers B and C. The lever B can wear a groove in the opposite lever C. When this happens you loose throw in the lock assembly! Sometimes this can be adjusted out with the lock rods. When the groove (indicated by the number 2 becomes large enough that it changes the throw of the opposite side, the lock will act goofy.





Things that would cause the door not lock when it hits the striker would be either the striker is out of adjustment, or a spring failure. (Shown by number 3 in the picture above).

A few other ideas for a non locking latch may be is the lever H is not catching on the tooth on K, or the door handle push rod on the outer handle is not returning upward all the way. This could be a simple spring clip on top of the rod, or the handle spring is bad.



From a time stand point, it is not worth it for us or our shop customer to tear this down, repair and rebuild. Doing this did create a good working lock since we found the hang up in the one we tore apart.

Willcox Inc.

jbowles49

Many thanks for all you have done. I'm still working with mine to determine what is causing the outside to not unlock reliably. I can't say enough about your going beyond my expectations of a vendor. You have earned a customer for life.
J Bowles

Derrick Reynolds

Please don't take this the wrong way, as I love to see stuff like this on the internet and appreciate the effort to do this to help folks out with a common problem on their Corvette, and I would like to help make this as plain and easy to understand as possible. As background, I took my doors apart this last winter because the door locks didn't work. It took some head scratching to figure out what was wrong, but I did figure it out and put it all back together and the door locks work perfectly now, so I like to think that I am somewhere above the "town idiot" on this repair, but don't claim to be an expert or anything. That said, I was fine with what you wrote until the paragraph that starts "If you grab the lever 8 by both outer ends...." I have no idea what you mean by "both outer ends". I also can't for the life of me figure out the two pictures, are they the same piece just from a different angle? Are they two different year locks? Is one locked and the other unlocked? Honestly, I got lost at "both outer ends", and couldn't understand anything after that.

Dantana

That's a great tutorial! I've got a problem with the locking mechanism on my drivers side. I don't seem to get enough travel in the **** to move the mechanism and of course I don't have the key to check it at the lock so it's all got to come apart anyhow... this will be a great start.

"#8 has two outer ends..."- I don't see what the problem is with this statement at all. Seems quite clear to me. Maybe you are not looking closely enough at the drawings.

69Vett

nice documentation ! Thanks for all your help, Wilcox !

0Willcox Corvette

Thank you all! I enjoy this!


Willcox Inc.

Derrick Reynolds

I guess I am just one of the reading comprehension challenged.

tgcattle

do you have the spring for the left door marked #7 ?

Rick_V

I am having an issue with both doors. Driver's door will lock and unlock perfectly with the key but, not with the interior button, it acts like it is frozen. Passenger's side will not lock but key will turn lock cylinder but only in the unlock direction again the interior button seems frozen. This is on a 79.

DZRick

If you look at the 1st picture you'll see the #8 twice, one at each end of the lever.

Schro

Don't know if this will help, but I replaced both door handles, they lockked and unlocked normally with the door open, put all back to gether. Locked the driver door with it closed, no way to unlock, with key or ****. Same occured on passenger door. Took for ever to get door unlocked with screw driver, but eventually successful. The problem was the replacement handles were not exactly like my production handles. I had to shorten the rod the handle connected to by about 1/4 inch. Door locks and unlocks no problem, smarter the second time to close latch on door to simulate closed and could lock and unlock with key and button. Of course, if you shorten to much, outside handle will not work. If the outside door handle rod is to long, it puts pressure on the latch and will not allow unlocking with door closed, key and ****. Hope this helps

Stu's81

I have the same problem, replaced door handle and latch assembly last year on drivers side,plus the power lock actuators.
When unlocked the door opens just fine,lock it with the key and your climbing through the passenger side to get in.
Could the lock cylinder tab/lever be causing this?

Oldguard 7

So do we!!!!!!

sjr1971

Most times it's the door handle that's broken. [Usually the drivers side]It is made of pot metal and breaks after 30+years. To check the operation of the latch. Lever 8 has to be DOWN[unlocked]. Reset the latch with a pen[push the pen boby through the catch as if it were the door catch]. The inside and outside trips should activate the door catch when pressed to open the door latch if the mechinism is working properly.

Schro

Okay, made post earlier what caused my 72 vette doors not to unlock with key or **** once door latch was closed. I am not a mechanic, but pretty good at figuring out puzzles. Like stated earlier, when I replaced outside door hanbles, did not make adjustment to acuator rod that connects to handle. This caused the door not to unlock when closed with key or ****. I figured this out by closing door latch then locking door with door opened and door panels removed. Could not unlock with key or ****, Where the outside handle rod connects to the latch, I pushed up on this arm and then I could lock and unlock with key and **** (can not have to much down force on latch). Shortened rod 1/4 inch, worked fine from then on. The only way I could get the driver side open once it was locked (had door panels on) was to push with a screw driver on the arm that the door handle rod was connected to, had to force the door handle rod up enough to get unlocked. Very easy to check with door panel off by just pushing up on outside door actuator rod and you should be able to unlock door, Hope this helps

NassyVette

Thanks for posting this, I had the exact same problem and damn near had an aneurism trying to diagnose the problem. If everything works fine with the door open then stiffens up disabling the lock **** or making it very difficult to lock then your problem lies in the adjustment rod from the exterior handle to latch mechanism. There can't be any preload on it. Thanks again!

haydengm1

Schro explained what I went through to the T. I replaced the outside handles and had to adjust the rod as well.

mapman

Willcox

Thank you, post is timely as I am working on my doors/locks.

vettemanace

My passenger side outside door handle wont work I had panel off and not really sure. It seems to me that the rod needs adjusted but how the heck is it done ? The door handle is almost impossible to get at nuts nolding it in are so cramped . Any and all help would be appreciated.

Thanks, ACE

haydengm1

I had to shorten the rod about 1/8-3/16". take the clip loose at the top or bottom end and turn the threaded end to adjust the length of the rod. You can put the rod back in place to test it without installing the clip. That way if you still need to adjust more it is easier to remove the rod. After the door handle works properly, install the rod with the clip. Hope this helps.