MrMook

Recently i ended up with the 95 Rodeo my younger brother had been using since he got his liscense and it would appear that he wasnt interested in fixing little problems. Long story short: There are alot of odd issues with the car that dont affect performance, but just frustrate the heck outta me. Heres the first one.

Door Locks. I have manual door locks. Or, should i say i HAD manual door locks. They're gone. There is just a hole where the key entry should be. I asked my brother about it, and he just said, "yeah, they fell into the door".
So i removed the door panel as much as i could without removing the window crank, and fished around blindly inside the door frame as much as i could, but i couldnt find anything.
The tailgate and rear window dont lock either, but at least the key hole is there.

What i want to know is:
-Can/should i buy new locks?
-Is there a good way to pop the window cranks off so i can fully remove the door panel?

paulsantangelo

Window cranks are easy, if you got the tools. Its kind of a flat piece of metal with a with a side missing. Like a U.

You place the open end under the handle and push away from the handle. But it of courses sound like you dont have that tool.

I dont either, what I use is a hook from my soldering tools, but any hook will do. You will need to crank down the window, so you can get your eye where you need it. Point the handle down to the ground or have it at the lowest position. Right on top (where the hub is) you will see a small retaining clip with a very small loop, you will be looking down. You then wedge your hook to the clip and pull. I recommend once you hook the clip, that you hold a rag over the hub, because the clip will fly and you will probably lose it. You dont have to pull that hard, but the clip may still fly.

I done this both ways, and I was lucky on the first try that the clip recershayed off the inside windshield and wound up in the back seat under a rag, It took me longer to find it then to take the clip off.

-paul

paulsantangelo

BTW, yes I've done it also, When its cold and locks sticks, you'll do almost anything to get in a warm car. The locks are just held in with a retaining clip, pretty cheap set up in my opion. Once you fix the locks you might hear some noise comming from the lock, you may need to realind the lock control rod, with the door opener rod. Its easy and the lock rod goes down and the door rod goes across, just either get them wide enough a part so they dont hit each other when they car is moving, or re route the lock rod to go passo the inside of the door lock, instead of the outside. This producing some rubbing, when each mechinism is used but it wont rattle any longer.

Been there, done that!

MrMook

Thanks for the suggestions Paul. I'll give it a go this weekend, and i'll let you know how it turns out.
-MrMook

MrMook

Got it!
I was able to get the door panel all the way off, found the lock, and had to epoxy it back in place. If you dont have the right tool for the window crank pin, a modified bicycle spoke and an old credit card do the trick!
Its a real cheezy system once you get in there. Anybody could pop that lock into the door and either break into your car, or make it impossible for you to get back into your car without smashing a window.
Worked out great though, because my window has also been sticking, and it turns out the crank mechanism wasnt even bolted to the door frame, so i secured that, and now my window works better than ever.
Thanks again for all the pointers!
-MrMook

paulsantangelo

Great work, thanks for the update!