TRIQUED OUT

MAKING CLASSIC TRUCK DOORS CLOSE LIKE NEW

Making Classic Truck Doors Close Like New

HAVE YOU EVER taken apart an old door latch? The engineering behind them can be pretty interesting. Thing is, they typically don’t work very well after 50-plus years of use, causing sagging doors, or doors that need to be slammed to shut correctly. You could cut out those old things and weld in some new ones, but that’s not always the best way to go. Not only can the new latches be difficult to line up perfectly, but there’s a more obvious question: What if your truck already has paint?

Nick at Hubcap’s Hot Rod Design in Phoenix has been dealing with crappy latches for a long time, and recently, he discovered a product that’s been around for years: the Altman Easy Latch Kit by Trique Manufacturing. These kits bolt into place, and although there’s a little bit of cutting involved, getting them into place and sorted is simple enough that anyone can do it. Plus, they look sharp and work with all of the factory handles, both interior and exterior.

In this case, Nick is working on a customer’s

’53 F-100. He’s already done a right-hand-drive conversion on the truck, and added a bunch of other goodies, but now the truck is in paint and still needs the latches sorted out. So, when he told us about the solution to his problem, we figured we’d tag along and check it out. Here are the results.