Door lock tail piece

[hiball3985]

Rich I remember reading that in another post you had in the past. I think the shorter versions are for Tbirds. I may end up doing something like that.

When I got the ranchero who ever reassembled the locks after paint had them in backwards, left on right and right on left, so the cover flipped the wrong way and the locks didn't work  . After I took it apart I found the left cylinder on the right side didn't have the tail piece I've put off this project for 5 years knowing it would open a can of worms..

[gasman826]

The Thunderbird levers are reproduced.  Because of Rich's post from the past, I have kept every lever I encountered.  This past winter, I rebuilt the doors in the Raunch Wagon and serviced the locks.  The left door lock never worked since I've owned.  The lever was missing.  I went through my door parts stash and found levers.  I test fit the locks and levers in the wagon doors.  I sent my spare Custom doors to the artist doing the door art.  When I got the Custom doors back, they were installed using the same locks and levers that I had mocked up in the wagon doors.  I don't want to sound like an ass but I've felt like an ass for not offering parts to a club member.  When I finished the door rebuild, I boxed up all the door stuff and it went to the sea box at the farm.  A week ago, I nearly emptied the sea box to get to a project stopping part (of course it was in the nose of a 40' sea box).  Even on a cloudy day, the sea box is an oven.  I about made myself sick unloading and reloading and of course the unneeded door parts box went clear in the front.  I'll dig one out for you but not until fall and cooler weather.  Best I can do for now.

[hiball3985]

The Thunderbird levers are reproduced.  Because of Rich's post from the past, I have kept every lever I encountered.  This past winter, I rebuilt the doors in the Raunch Wagon and serviced the locks.  The left door lock never worked since I've owned.  The lever was missing.  I went through my door parts stash and found levers.  I test fit the locks and levers in the wagon doors.  I sent my spare Custom doors to the artist doing the door art.  When I got the Custom doors back, they were installed using the same locks and levers that I had mocked up in the wagon doors.  I don't want to sound like an ass but I've felt like an ass for not offering parts to a club member.  When I finished the door rebuild, I boxed up all the door stuff and it went to the sea box at the farm.  A week ago, I nearly emptied the sea box to get to a project stopping part (of course it was in the nose of a 40' sea box).  Even on a cloudy day, the sea box is an oven.  I about made myself sick unloading and reloading and of course the unneeded door parts box went clear in the front.  I'll dig one out for you but not until fall and cooler weather.  Best I can do for now.

Thank you so much. I really feel bad putting anyone through that much effort and can't express how much I appreciate it.
And like a dumb ass I should have measured the right side one before I finished that door but I forgot 

[RICH MUISE]

Hahahaaaaaaaa...........OK Gary, you smoked me out. I thought maybe I had one from that door I got at Roger's in Kansas when I didn't think I could fix mine after I crunched a building with my car. I just went out and checked after reading your post, because I too was feeling bad about maybe having a part that Jim needed, and I have it.....it's one of those parts that are so hard to find you like to keep a spare just in case, but hey, friends are friends.
Mine is even off a Ranchero.
Jim.....sometimes the levers are missing because the cast pocket on the back of the key cylinder breaks, so I'll send the whole cylinder assy just in case yours turns out to be broken.....you can polish it up and have it rekeyed to fit your existing keys. Did you check the bottom of your door, btw? If the retaining pocket breaks, that lever would just fall out.
Jim pm me your mailing address. Anything else you need?

[cokefirst]

I hope this information helps.  There are actually 4 different door lock tail pieces or as Ford calls them, Lever - Door lock operating.  The 1955-1957 Thunderbird uses Part number B5S 4021971-A for both sides.  This is the only application in these years that does not have a left and a right.

For 1957 and 1958, model 51A (Skyliner), 63A (Fairlane 500 Club Victoria) 63B (Fairlane Club Victoria) 64A (Fairlane Club Sedan) 64B (Fairlane 500 Club Sedan) 76B (Fairlane 500 Convertible Coupe) All these use part number B7A 6421970-A for the right and B7A 6421971-A for the left.

For 1957 and 1958, models 57A (Fairlane 500 Town Victoria) 57B (Fairlane Town Victoria) 58A (Fairlane Town Sedan) 58B (Fairlane 500 Town Sedan) 59A (Tudor Ranch Wagon) 59B (Tudor Ranch Wagon Del Rio) 66A and 66B (Ranchero) 70A (1957 Custom Tudor Sedan) 70A (1958 Custom 300 Tudor Sedan) 70B (Custom 300 Tudor Sedan) 70D (1957 Custom Business Tudor) 70D (1958 Custom 300 Business Tudor) 73A (1957 Custom Fordor Sedan) 73A (1958 Custom 300 Fordor Sedan) 73B (Custom 300 Fordor Sedan) 78A (Sedan Delivery) 79D (Station Wagon Country Sedan 6 passenger) All these use part number B7A 7021970-A for the right and B7A 7021971-A for the left.

For the following model ONLY for 1957 and 1958, 79E (Station Wagon Country Squire 9 passenger) this model uses part number B7A 7921970-A for the right and B7A 7921971-A for the left.

In 1959, they went back to one part for both left and right for all passenger car models excluding Thunderbird.  I hope this information helps. 

[RICH MUISE]

Great info, thanks for posting. I'll take the liberty of copying it and reposting it in the tech section so it'll be easier to find in the future.
The t-bird info is interesting, and the 4th group being the country squire standing alone certainly makes sense rather than all wagons being classified the same as parts distributors seem to do on this part.
I think the 2nd and 3rd groups is where all the confusion comes in. Seems really strange that different Fairlanes would use different tailpieces, but I think that's probably explaning why in the past guys have ended up with tailpieces slightly different than what they had.

[hiball3985]

Rich you are an angel and a life saver  One lock was broke as you described and missing the tail piece so I had bought a new set of locks. I'll send the PM Thank you so much.

[hiball3985]

Yes, great info on those pieces, thank you for providing it..

[hiball3985]

With a big thank you to Rich my problem is solved. And thank you to all the others who contributed offers of help and info.

[Tom S]

Turns out that I had almost the same problem as  'hiball' Jim. 
See here,  post 1 & 11. Went off topic into the alignment issue with the Granada spindles for a bit, but it's all good info. 
http://57fordsforever.com/smf/index.php?topic=7579.new#new
After learning from this thread & a couple others I went to finding out why I couldn't lock either door with the key. I discovered that the right door lock was missing it's tail piece. It wasn't laying in the bottom the door either. : ( Now I need a right door tail piece.  I should have paid more attention & made a pattern of the tail piece since I think I could make one. Bolt, dremmel, file, small piece of flat steel to bend, drill & shape. Hold that onto the massaged bolt with lock nuts and locktight or weld, solder, or what ever works. A small metal lathe to turn the bolt to shape would be very handy.
I think the only difference between the left & right tail pieces is the direction of these 'flat  spots' in relation to the, emm, wing? See the 1st pic. The second pic found later shows that detail a lot better.

(And my whining about my shipping costs.)

Kinda sucks that the only 'tail piece' I'd got my hands on for way too long got stuck away without really making good use of her when it was still easy to do. Want another one.
I know only one other guy, (two others here but don't know 'em ... yet), that has any 57s here. He has a wagon & 2 very bad off incomplete Ranchero part cars.  If they even have these parts maybe I can luck out.

The thread where Rich & others posted pix with links to Dennis Carpenter's tail pieces & one to Jerrys classic cars where the part is only $6. It's for 1955-56 Ford-1955-57 T-Bird. Didn't see where Jerrys classic cars said left or right but the part number indicates it's a left & I didn't find a right. http://57fordsforever.com/smf/index.php?topic=5082.msg38730#msg38730

Rich, unless your door lock & latch stuff is way different than what I've seen those 'tail pieces' must be upside down in the locks in this pic you posted in that thread. No?
http://57fordsforever.com/smf/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=5082.0;attach=10898;image

Something else about my door locks that I don't understand is why it about impossible to pull the inside door lock knob back up to unlock the door.  In fact almost always totally impossible.  They lock and unlock easily with the key. As far as I can tell every thing in the door is in it's correct place.  Anyone have any insight on that issue?

[hiball3985]

Tom.
I'm sure you read through the previous post about there being four different tail pieces, isn't this fun .
After pulling my upside down and backwards locks I had one good lock with no tail piece and one bad lock with a tail piece. I just bought new locks and replaced the missing tail piece with one Rich sent. After hours of standing on my head and using mirrors I finally got it all together and the knobs worked fine so I'm sure what your problem could be..

[Tom S]

... isn't this fun .

Oh, yeah, great fun.

... After hours of standing on my head and using mirrors I finally got it all together ...

Ha! Along with a little digital camera I used mirrors too. Those cameras have helped me to see into places where I couldn't otherwise see. With the door I set it to flash & a 10 second delay to get it into position.
It would be real tempting to cut another hole on the inside of the door if I really had to work on them a lot.

[hiball3985]

Considering everything works from the latch assembly there must be something not right there. Does the knob go up and down alright when you use the key?

[Tom S]

...Does the knob go up and down alright when you use the key?

It does. It's weird on how hard it is to pull up. Sooner or later I'm gonna look at my friends junker parts 'Cheros & or pull the drivers door card & the key lock out of the '58 & look over things in there real good.

[RICH MUISE]

Not sure why it's hard to pull up.....I haven't had that problem. I suspect one of the rods is installed wrong.
Also, the pic I posted with the new ebay lock/old one could have been upside down. That picture was before I installed them, and as I mentioned, I had them switched l to r.
Tom, give me some time and I'll go thru my ebay history and see if I can find out who I got them from. Seems I remember he was speciali8zing in lock components.