Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

I am in the process of reassembling my door handles/escutcheon plates, springs, etc, after re-chroming the handles and I am running into a problem reassembling the driver side door lock. All is in place except the lock cylinder will not stay in the fixed slotted cylindrical housing. I followed James Bushnell's writeup on removal but not much help in reassembly. The inside of the lower fixed slotted cylinder had to be sanded to remove deposited copper before the movable cylinder would even fit. Could I have sanded too much? also I do not have a flat spring described in James writeup.

I have neither the writeup or a handle in front of me, but that flat spring, what I call an embedded clip, must be there to hold the cylinder in. The groove just under the stainless cap of the cylinder is where that clip seats to hold the cylinder in the handle. No clip, no securing the cylinder.

See photos - I have flat embedded clip on the lower cylinder but do not see how it could hold the upper lock cylinder in place.

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For those who might have missed it when posted previously, here's the Jim Bushnell article on the 1937 door lock.

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My 36 does not have a drivers side door lock. I was told that you were suppose to lock the handle from the inside and slide over to the passenger side, get out and lock the door.
Is that something they did in 37?

Standard practice of the era. It was considered dangerous to enter/exit the car in the traffic lane - still potentially dangerous today! Watch some old black and white movies of the day and take note of how folks enter and exit a car.

I will reply over the weekend, out of town without technical resources.
I'll tell you in short it has to do with removing the key once the tumblers are lined up with the grooves in the handle.