65 Bus door locks do not work

[pacifcoflyr]

bump.

So my 65' passenger door will not lock from outside, when I move the handle up on the inside it then falls back down and unlocks on itself. It has been working fine but now all of a sudden won't lock from inside or outside....any ideas?

[velvetgreen]

a temporary "fix" might be to try lifting the outside door handle "up" while turning the key in the tumbler to lock it. This takes the pressure off the door lock mechanism, and also temporarily fixes door sag from slightly worn out hinges. Both of these sometimes contribute to difficulty getting lock to engage.

Are you able to lock the door from the inside by pushing the inner door handle fwd?

[pacifcoflyr]

[BonTonRoulet]

The inside door handles should be pointing towards the front of your bus, and slightly inclined by about 30 degrees from level. You push down on the handle to lock the doors, you lift UP to unlock or open the doors from the inside. I reckon it would be the other way around IF your inside door handles were installed backwards facing the rear of your bus....but they're not supposed to be installed that way.

Hop into the seat of your bus. Pull the door closed. Reach forward towards the handle. Figure out which way the handle orientation makes sense to ergonomically fit across the palm of your open hand as you reach for the handle to operate it.

If you click on the "Technical" tab of this website you'll see another tab for all of the type 2 owners manuals throughout the years. The March 1965 manual has a photo of the plastic door handle oriented slightly forward of vertical.

[pacifcoflyr]

[BonTonRoulet]

[BarryL]

Part of your post sounds like the return spring broke on half of the inner door handle mechanism. That and the mismounted lever might be simply unlocking it. Open the window and hold the inner handle in the lock position then try to key lock it and report what happens.

[pacifcoflyr]

So something clearly isn’t right. My handles operate in the opposite way of the owners manual. Up is lock, down is open. What did they install backwards? I’m about to take the door panels off and dive in.

Thanks all.

[EverettB]

Probably the mechanism the door handles mounts to is upside down.

It's possible to install it upside down into the door.
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[pacifcoflyr]

[pacifcoflyr]

[BarryL]

[pacifcoflyr]

I took it off and it’s pretty gummed up. Cleaning it now and will lube it up. Nothing appears broken. I tried the door closed hand through the window thing like you suggested and the outcome was if I let go of the handle, it opens from outside. My hockey shaped mechanism works fine, just won’t stay locked.

[pacifcoflyr]

So after a clean and lube and learning how the door mechanism works, a couple of the tabs were bent just very so slightly. The arm that moves up and down (the lock) that gets in the way of the arm that moves inwards when you push the push button was slightly bent, so when locked didn’t provide enough surface area to prevent the push button arm from being disabled if that makes sense. I bent it back with a some small pliers and it’s all working now. No idea if it was just time and use that bent it in the first place or what. But I also reversed the part the handle attaches to on both sides so the handle works properly. Thank you all for your help, hopefully the fiddling with the bent pieces lasts if not I’ll be replacing the mechanism.

[BarryL]

Glad you got it figured out. Wonder what made it out of kilter.

[pacifcoflyr]