55.2-59 55-57 one piece windows

[MD2020]

When I did the youtube mods for the windows. I made sure the old door catches would fit.
I did Tool and Die and machine work for 28 years and lot's of fabrication also. but never on a car or truck.
This was not a easy job.
I found some bearclaw latches that were 3/4" thick and 1-1/4" wide ( do a search for images) and you will see the one showing the measurements.

So I made a bracket and tacked it on.
The latch is realy close to the window channel that was in the mods. and you want to hold it out close to the back of the cover panel for the window and door lever cover

I had to do some trimming just above the original door catch HOLES. I can still take this off and go back for now to the factory catches.


So leaving that tacked I started work on the catch post
so I had to cut most of the bracket off (see the sharpe lines


cut and made a filler piece to weld in.



NO TURNING BACK NOW I'm all in
Welded the slots up too.
where my finger is I had to shave off a goog bit to keep the bare claw latch and cover from hitting. If you look close behind the pin , the bracket had to slide behind the door post frame see the crack.


The cove I made had to be a tight to the bracket and latch so it would clear when closing the door.
Hopefully all this will hold up and work proper.


Now I had to make all the brackets to get the outside factory door handle to work. It just barely fits behind there. I will say it again ( I would not do this again with the window and latch on the same truck)


I"m waiting for my glass to get cut and see how it all works.