Problem with door jam latch

Back of jam

I feel your pain.

I have had success in the past retrieving AWOL metal pieces using magnets.

I might try placing a strong tubular rare earth magnet inside a flexible vinyl tube and slide it into the B pillar cavity through the top screw hole.

If you can somehow pull the plate upwards so you can grab it through the lower bolt hole, perhaps with a dental pick, I think you could then manage to proceed to remount the striker plate.

Also, you could drill a larger retrieval hole between the two existing holes, where it will be covered after reinstalling everything. That hole could also serve as the point of a small spot weld to retain the plate once you had it back in proper position.

I'm just thinking off the top of my head, and I'm sure others will chime in with their possible solutions.

Good luck with this.

Larry

Drill a big hole around 20-30mm on the back side of the B pillar in the lower part.
So you can in with a 3-4mm iron rood ar a magnet,pul it up Again on the right place.
When it is on place Again, then cover the hole you make with a big rubber plug (be chore to have a big plug before you make the hole)

Kjeld

quote:

Originally posted by RRS1:
Back of jam

Exactly the same happend to me!! I had to cut a hole on the rear of the Pillar and Initially I used a USB Scope Camera with my 10" Laptop but I simply could not figure out what was left, right, up or down. So went to the the (blind) welding wire method and after a short while I got it "hooked", just lucky??? The hole I cut was square U shape. I bend the flap out to get access and subsequently welded it back.

Thanks for the suggestions. I figured a magnet would come into play.

Just to follow up, the nut plate is held on with a capture type sheet metal piece that allows the plate to move so you can adjust the catch. Most likely the tin has dissolved which is why the nut plate dropped. Now if the bottom the post is gone because of rust, the plate is in the rocker.

One item of future advise, drill the heads of the screws off and the catch will just pop off leaving the length of the screws intact. If the nut plate mount is rotted off, the remaining studs will keep it from dropping and then you can cut through the top of the post and weld on a holding tab for the future. Then you can take your time using penetrating oil and work the remaining studs out with vise grips.

Take a close look at the post bottom to see if it is still intact or totaled. You may need to pull the rocker or at least cut off the top sill to access the post bottom. You should remove the radius transition from the rocker to the latch skin where the alignment bezel fits anyway because it is a water and dirt trap and will be bad. This is what you may find.