Door rattle - latch/handle rods?

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Joined
Aug 14, 2014
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Location
Madison, WI
My Car
1971 Mach 1 w/408C stroker
My doors rattle in every pothole. Most of them probably rattle. I thought it was the window, but it still rattles when you push on the window, with the window down and with the window up. Today with the door disassembled I am finding out that a lot of the lock rods rattle. The rod from the door interior handle to the latch and the one from the exterior handle to the latch are the worst. Any thoughts about it? The rod on the interior handle has a lot of movement where it attaches to the hinge. Are there bushings in there? or maybe the attachments are worn out.
 
I would take one of these thin transparent plastic hose, cut it over a length of 40 cm, and wrap it around the rod that goes from the door knob to the latch. The rod is very near or even in contact to the inner skin original and its original insulation is probably gone.
 
I would take one of these thin transparent plastic hose, cut it over a length of 40 cm, and wrap it around the rod that goes from the door knob to the latch. The rod is very near or even in contact to the inner skin original and its original insulation is probably gone.
Thanks, so that's a start. Were all these rods covered/wrapped? I also noticed that there should be a clip that holds the rod from the interior handle mechanism to the latch, which is absent on mine. However, I still have "play" where the rod attaches (rivet?) to the interior handle mechanism and latch. I see that the latch is reproduced but not the interior handle mechanism. I need to dig more into it to see it I can do something to reduce this play.
 
Not all, just that one. there is indeed a plastic ring/clip, whatever thats called, a circular thingy ment to support it. Similar to the one in front ment to keep the mirror cable in place so it doesn't touch the glass (for those having adjustable mirrors).

All the rods have this pivot/rotating lock to keep them in place. They are usually more lock in place that loose, so as you say the noise doesn't change if you hold/touch the glass, that can't be the rolling (or squarish) guides, not be the "carpet" pushers against the glass. Unless the car has had an accident, the rails are likely tighten too.

That's why I think the noise is likely the long rod that is close to the inner skin. In fact on my door, that is now in pieces, I saw it was touching the metal despite the clip, so my guess is that the previous owner must have had noises too.
The long vertical one that goes from the hand release knob on top, could also be touching the one coming from the key drum.

as my door looks like this atm

IMG_2963.jpeg

I have been able to really inspect! :O

Here the latch and the rods
IMG_2911.jpeg

and here, the clip goes in one of these holes ( dunno which one from head, but once the rod is in place, you can't miss as it goes around it)

IMG_2914.jpeg
 
Thanks Fabrice. I will add a generic wire clip and cover some of the rods where they are near other parts to see if it makes a difference. I hope is this simple to get rid of this annoying noise.
 
There can btw also be other candidates. The mirror for instance, the 2 holes/guides of the glass can make an horrible noise that gets amplified. You usually hear it when you close the door. I know on my 71 one, I have thermo sleeved them (used for electric wires) as the plastic guides were allowing too much play.
And as seen in my door, I have removed big chunks of rust, debris from within the center member. They are not painted and once something is trapped in there, it can't go anywhere. Even accessible as it is now, vacuuming wasn't that easy as the holes are tiny. If you can, spray some wax in there, if something is loose that should remove any vibs, stick it and you'd protect the outer skin from rusting as well. Something I wish someone had done long ago!
 
Interestingly I checked and the long rod from the handle mechanism still has the wrap and the clip is actually there - I guess I never paid attention to it. When I move the rods I see that there is a lot of play coming from the levers of the latch and lever mechanism. The actual attachment between the rod and levers is good. Maybe this are worn out and need replacement, or is there a way to repair them. As I said, the lever mechanism doesn't seem to be reproduced. The latch is reproduced but expensive.
 
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The latch moving/rotation parts for the rods are hold in place with rivets. I can imagine these could make some annoying noise if too loose. May be roll a small thin elastic around the levers to test if they are indeed the cause. After that may be some good fat grease could help, or may be just the good old hammering/press to "fine tune" the rivets...
 
Does anyone knows where I can purchase universal lock/catch rod retainer clips? I don't need exact repros. I will be happy with universal ones that fit but you can hardly find dimensions online. The rods are about 0.16". NPD sells the Daniel Carpenter, but with shipping I am looking at $60 for 16 of those. I think I only need 14 but two for spare. It seems that Dorman has some universal ones but they don't specify the rod diameter.
 
I ended up spending a lot of time working with the doors. I removed the hatch and cleaned 50 years of dirt out of then. Lubricated then and they are really smooth. I tightened the rivets that hold the rods of the handle. I shorten the rods from the exterior handle to the latch so there is no slack. So now the doors open very smoothly and with little handle lift. I replaced the window roller guides with the square guides. Lastly, i covered the side mirror remote wires with wire insulation. With all that the doors seem very solid but i wont know until i drive the car this spring. The bad news is that my door panels keep breaking where the clips go. It took some fiberglass and resin to reinforce them. After i got the panels installed i realized that i forgot to put the watershields. Well, too bad. I am not removing those panels anytime soon. Those things are very brittle where the clips go so i don't want to keep breaking them even with the fiberglass.
 

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My doors rattle in every pothole. Most of them probably rattle. I thought it was the window, but it still rattles when you push on the window, with the window down and with the window up. Today with the door disassembled I am finding out that a lot of the lock rods rattle. The rod from the door interior handle to the latch and the one from the exterior handle to the latch are the worst. Any thoughts about it? The rod on the interior handle has a lot of movement where it attaches to the hinge. Are there bushings in there? or maybe the attachments are worn out.
Hey Tony, my driver's door rattles only when window is all the way down. Passenger side does not. Found driver side anti-rattle sleeves are no longer there. I have not yet installed these parts, but National Parts Depot sells these. Might install them in the next couple days, I'll let you know.
 

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Hey Tony, my driver's door rattles only when window is all the way down. Passenger side does not. Found driver side anti-rattle sleeves are no longer there. I have not yet installed these parts, but National Parts Depot sells these. Might install them in the next couple days, I'll let you know.
Those anti-rattle definitely work.
 
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