Door lock / handle question

[hot66]

Question for those of you who know the workings of the door handle and door lock mechanism.....

Weird thing . I have just rebuilt my rhs door handle and all is great with that.







To try and make sense, I refer to the trigger pin as the pin that is operated by the trigger in the handle that pushes the locking plate to open the door

I refer to the locking plate as being the part of the lock mechanism in the door that is flicked left or right by the lock arm in the handle . It is also pushed inwards by the trigger pin to open the door.

One question, is the trigger pin Always in contact with the face of the locking plate ?

Reason I ask is , When fitted back onto the door , the trigger works fine to open the door. I can lock the door ok, but it is impossible to unlock the door.

I've had a good investigation and what is happening is, when the door is locked the locking plate within the door is flicked to the locked position , but the trigger operating pin isn't now in contact with the locking plate face as it has moved too far, so when you go to unlock , the locking plate is now prevented from flicking open due to the trigger pin being in the way.

I have managed to sort it, by slightly cutting down the new trigger pin and adjusting its length so the door can be unlocked and locked, problem is the opening of the door with the trigger is now difficult ( needs more length on the pin .... But this would then interfere with the locking mechanism)

Am I missing something here ?

[hot66]

the locking plate is the item which looks like it has the 2 horns

the trigger pin, which normally rests against this item when the door is unlocked, presses the plate inwards to open the door, .... on mine, when the locking plate is all the way to the left ( locked) , the trigger pin is now not in contact with this plate, but extended further inwards, so now the plate can't move back to the right as it is being blocked by the trigger pin

How should these 2 items work together ?


Any help / explainations ? Garage time tonight so will have another look

[MT]

James,

The long pin on the lever arm that is rotated by the key should go between the two 'horns' of the locking plate - to use your terminology I think. It then rocks onto one horn causing the locking plate to lock and onto the other to open it. Pulling the 'trigger' on the door handle pushes the pin inwards opening the main latch. You can do the same with your finger in to open hole where the door handle goes if you have no handle on to open the door ..... as I'm sure you know!

Hope this is of use, and that your 'cutting down' hasn't scuppered the job.

Mick

[hot66]

thanks Mick

Knew all that luckilly, so all those things are working fine.

Its just when the 'horned' locking plate rocks into the open position , it is being prevented from rocking open by the pin actuated by the trigger. Its this pin I have wound all the way in ( they are threaded & adjustable ) and then taken a couple of mm of its end to allow the horned locking plate to rock open with no interference from this pin ..... downside is this now results in a the handle trigger having to be pulled all the way into the handle to open the door

Maybe its the locking mech that is worn ?

[MT]

Sorry James,

should have known you'd have the basics sorted. It sounds like for some reason the handle is going further into the mounting hole than it should. At the risk of further stating of the obvious you have got the thick handle gasket between the handle and the door skin?

Got to be honest I can't think of any other reason. Sorry

Mick

[hot66]

Just for you mick, think I might have found the problem .... And it's pretty obvious when you realise...

The main handle is original, but the trigger assembly is a new aftermarket one from the U.S. I was originally just going to replace the trigger handle but it turned out the assembly had snapped as well . Anyway, The aftermarket trigger and trigger rod is a slightly different design to the original .

Looking at it tonight and comparing it against my other working door handle, realised the door trigger wasn't releasing as far as the original. Turns out the design of the aftermarket one appears to restrict how far the trigger realises meaning the trigger pin wasn't retracting far enough . Spent a bit of time with a file modifying the new assembly in various places and touch wood I created a small amount of extra movement to allow the pin to retract enough to allow the locking mech to clear it.

I'll bang it all together properly on the weekend and see if it's fine .