Herald door jammed shut!

[herald948]

I'm open to any and all (reasonable and not involving serious cutting tools) suggestions for getting my LH (driver's in the US) door open! I'd been having problems with latching mechanism adjustment, but I thought I had it pretty much solved. Unfortunately, it got harder and harder to open -- with the inside and outside handles both feeling as if they were binding more and more -- until a couple days ago when it just jammed shut completely. I've tried removing the hinge bolts on the A post and wiggling the door, but that doesn't seem to help. I've also got the inside trim panel off the door and am trying to see inside best I can if there's anything I can access from there.

Again, any thoughts and suggestions would be greatly appreciated, as I find I don't climb over the gearbox tunnel as well as I used to!  ??)

[Snowbunny]

er just a wild shot but try jacking it up in various places to see if the rear/front body sections give enough to allow opening? Or is it the latch mechanism thats stuck?

[WRS1360]

ultimately one thing you could do is to remove the roof and loosen all the bolts for the rear body tub and shift it back a bit, so allowing the door latch to go over the catch. :-/

[Mark Hammond]

Sounds a bit extreme.  I'd be removing the door trim panel and be having a go at the lock mechanism.  Bit of a fiddle, but if you're like me, with small hands, it should be easy!

Mark

[herald948]

Well, I took a little bit of almost everyone's advice, but mostly the jacking of the car. I used the jack under the "factory" LR jacking point (rear outrigger). That, coupled with the fact that I'd actually removed all six hinge bolts, gave me enough flex and wiggle to free the door. Unfortunately, with all the stress involved, the squarish latch pin on the mechanism gave up the ghost -- after ONLY 48.75 years -- and fell into the door as it opened. Luckily, I found another early-style door to scavenge, as this is an early enough 1200 to have the outside push button incorporated with the latch mechanism, while most of my spares are the later style.

Silly me! You'd think that someone who has lived with Heralds for 46 of his 57 years would remember how a Herald's body flex can be used to great advantage!  ;D

Thanks for the suggestions, all!

[WRS1360]

1218 wrote:

Sounds a bit extreme.  I'd be removing the door trim panel and be having a go at the lock mechanism.  Bit of a fiddle, but if you're like me, with small hands, it should be easy!

Mark

more of a last resort thing if all else fails to what i posted