relocating door handles to back of cab? then shaving doors
 

i think i saw this somewhere, someone took a newer handle, the kind that are flush, and mounted it behind the cab of the truck then shaved the doors. i would like to do this to my daily driver before i paint it, has anyone dont this before? pics? etc, any ideas? would it work? i think someone posted it on teh board before, maybe

It will work great, you will need to use acuators like in electric door locks. Install your handle behind the cab but instead of rods activating the latch you will need an elect. switch to activate the acuator attached to the latch in the door
You can even open them remotely if you wanted to or lock them by shuting the power off by key or remote

I did not want electric actuators so I did this instead. It is an old picture but the doors are off now so I can't take a new picture. I have never posted a picture here so I hope it works.

72 Chop. MUST have details. We love details! Looks sweet!:eek:

'letrics are great 'till your battery goes dead.

thats kinda what i was looking for, except i want to not have all the elec crap, this is just kinda a "demo truck" so i can get some people to trust me to paint and shave their stuff, so i dont want to pu the money into the elec system, is there a way to mount the keyhole in the rear of cab too? or maybe just get a flush handle and put it in my doors? thanks

The problem is that all the mechanicals are inside the door. So to mount lock rods and door actuator rods in the back of the cab, you can't get them to actuate anything _inside_ the door. The only real solution to this dilemma (ASSuming you don't want to go electric) is to change the door catches out for some bear claw types or reverse them in the door jambs (as in the cam side that's in the door moves to the B-pillar and the larger catch side moves into the door. Then you can make rods to actuate the lock and open mechanisms.

But... that's about 300x the work of using electrics! If you're worried about not being able to get in, when you run your wires out of the door, also run a piece of 18 gauge stainless steel braided cable. You can run the cable through the firewall. Attach one end to the solenoid in the door and put a loop on the other end. If your electrics ever fail, just pop the hood and give the cable a tug and the door will pop open. Just tuck the cable away where it's not evident and you won't have to worry too much about somebody using it to break into your truck.

Kenneth

72 CHOP,

GREAT IDEA! VERY CLEAN.. I've also kicked the idea around of the smoothed door handles of newer vehicles..


RON

quick cable release
 

if anyone cares and is concerned about being locked out when you shave your doors, i installed an emergency cable pull on the last shave that i did on an 80 monte carlo. the cable is attached to the latch and routed through the electrical accessory boot in door into the engine compartment. it is ty-raped to a hole at the bottom of the fender to pull in case of emergency, but anyone can add their own twist to hiding it in a special place.

so howmuch are the lectrics? can i do this? i like 72chop's idea. i'm not worried about not being able to get into my truck when teh battery goes dead, i'm worried about spending a bouple hundred on my daily driver p.o.s. when i'm trying to get the funds together to buy the suspension for my frame up, if i cant do it with the stuff i have or stuff from junkyard i prob wont do i, just lookin fo ideas, thanks

You can get out for around a hundred bucks for the kitwith remote ,but a larger acuator is a good idea, so get the biggest you can afford.

Having done literally hundreds of shaved doors over the years, I decided to do something a little different for motors this time. I've used the 35# pull solenoids in the past and they were often marginal on older, heavier doors, and I couldn't justify the expense of the bigger 100# solenoids. So I used a pair of hatch release motors out of late model Camaros. Once you strip off the bracketry you're left with a small but efficient motor with about a 3/4" pull. That amount of pull isn't enough to kick the door mechanism open so I did a cantilever bracket whereby the 3/4" pull is multiplied into about a 1 1/2" pull, which is enough. Here's a diagram...

http://216.97.76.237/khass/truck/images/truckdoor.jpg

Cost for the hatch release motors at a wrecking yard should be between $FREE and $25.

Kenneth

Another little tip - on my '89 I had shaved the handles both inside and out and was using the electric motors. With the fear of the battery going dead or something, I wired a 9-volt battery connector in-line with the door motor power wires and kept a battery handy in the truck. A 9-volt battery is just enough to operate to door motors in case of an emergency.

I've also used a reed switch from a home security system before to operate a door motor. Just hide the switch in the side mirrors or something. By using a small magnate, the doors can be opened.

Always have a backup plan!

ummm. how do you get into the truck when the 9 volt is locked in.:D just messin around

jay

I've never done the reed switch on my own cars (paranoia about somebody walking around my truck with a giant woofer :)), but I've done the reed switches up in the roof pillars for other people's cars. Just find any old high-flux magnet and stick it to the inside of their fender. Tell them that's their "Save-A-Spare" in case they ever lock themselves out.

As for the 9v battery, I've also done that, but you're still relying on the electrics. For most cars, you can get to the battery (trust me... this is EASY even if you have a hood lock... all you have to do is jumper cable off the starter and the frame :)), then you've got power. The reason I prefer the mechanical backup of the stainless cable is that you can attach it to the actual door opener rod, so in case the motor burns up or the rod pops off of the motor, you've still got a way to get in at least 1 more time. If you've got door panels, make sure you roll your window down so you can get out when you get home-- remember, your backup cable is probably under the hood... no way to get to it if you're locked out (there's an Aggie Joke in there-- and I am qualified to tell Aggie jokes since I used to go to school there :)).

{man, I'm rambling today... m u s t g o h o m e}

Kenneth

BTW, I have NEVER locked myself out of any of my cars with shaved handles (but I've had bozo friends do it plenty of times). Here are a few tips--

1) Keep your ignition key and your remote on separate keychains. Keep the remote in your pockets at ALL times. If you get out with the motor running and the wind blows the door shut, you've got the remote in your pocket to get back in.

2) Have a backup plan like the reed switch like ProSt68Trk describes.

3) If all else fails, and you can get under the hood, pull the battery cable and let the engine die. If you're using an alarm for the door opening, reconnect the battery and MANY alarms will "cycle" and pop open the door for you. NOTE: Make sure you're doing this to your own vehicle, because if you're not, I won't feel bad if I read about you in the paper!

Kenneth

:( Kenneth reminded me of the one and ONLY time I got locked out of my truck - I was going home from a new years party, so you can imagine the environment - freezing temps, buzz from the liquid refreshments served that night, and I had to piss! So I pull into a local plants parking lot to get some relief. "I'll just leave the truck running so it will stay warm and shut the door but not latch it..." The d@mn thing latched about half way trough my duties - and my coat was in the truck that was still running! I had to walk up to a local gas station and try to explain to the lady clerk that I was needing to borrow anything she had that had a magnet on it.:rolleyes: At least the D@mn thing was warm when I got back. I can still see the look on the old ladies face when I was trying to explain what had happen and why I was needing a magnet:p

Ouch! I hate when that happens :( I once popped the fuse in an S10-Blazer of mine and couldn't get out (silly me-- the fuse that powered the door motors also powered the windows). I had power to pop the hatch, but I had 8 18's in the back of the truck so there was no getting out that way. And I, like you, needed some relief, and like you, it was cold (actually it was snowing-- you know "Texas snow"-- it's wet and slippery and accumulates to a whopping 2-3" at most). So, in my buzzed state, I popped the passenger side door panel off and pulled the rod and escaped! Funny, but only later :)

Kenneth