I recently became the proud owner of a 1995 F150. It is equipped with my very favorite Ford engine, the 300. It has a couple of little issues that have proved tractable, but one is still bugging me.

The driver's side door won't unlock. Most of the time. When I got the truck, the door lock cylinder didn't have the little rod that connects it to the latch. After losing some skin on my arm in a salvage yard, I got the little rod that I needed, lost a bit more skin getting it in my truck. But now the silly thing is having a problem unlocking. Doesn't matter if I pull the **** up, or try to unlock it from the outside, it won't unlock. I can get the door to unlock by pulling up hard on the interior door handle. If I try to unlock it from the outside, or pull up on the ****, it only seems to come up part of the way. The rods inside the door aren't catching on anything that I can see.

Does anyone have an idea? Should I just replace the door latch mechanism itself? Or maybe a liberal dose of WD40, just as soon as I can figure out where my wife put it?

 

liberal dose of WD-40. if it was missing the rod you are describing, it may have not been used in ages, so it could be rusty, or just gunked up. Do cheaper stuff first, then move on to more expensive stuff. My 97 had the same issue, but just in the locks because the previous owner never locked the pickup.

 

I hit it with some brake cleaner real good, and when the other half gets back from the baby shower, she will bring me some WD 40.

Right now, I'm about elbow deep into the truck's OTHER issue, the slave cylinder. Pulled the rubber plug in the bellhousing, and lo, there is a lovely mixture of brake fluid and clutch dust. I've almost got the transmission out, the bolts holding up the carrier bearing are rusted in solid, so I'm going to let them soak in some WD for a while. Other than that, it's the easiest transmission I've ever had the misfortune of removing. I LOVE INLINE SIXES. Everything is easy to get to. Plenty of room under this truck, as well. Much easier than the clutch job on my 1989 silverado, BUT, on the 89 silverado the slave cylinder is outside the bellhousing...

Speaking of previous owners, I am seriously thinking about taking a trip down to Coweta, OK to talk to the PO of my F150, and tell him if I EVER see him near a motor vehicle with a wrench again, I'll break his fingers. The latest greatest thing is the stereo amplifier cable that is powering the starter. You know, that thing right by the hot exhaust. It's OK though, I know I can fix it right and have a more dependable truck than he ever could.

 

Ok, stuck on the transmission removal. I have everything off, all bolts removed, everything disconnected, transmission on the jack, BUT, I can't get the crossmember out of the way. Took six bolts out and it's loose, but it's stuck under part of it's own mounts and it looks like the cab damn near has to come off to remove the offending parts. Any ideas out there?

 

Nobody knows, huh?

 

You have the mount unbolted from the crossmember and the trans? Raise trans, remove mount, then remove crossmember.

Adrianspeeder

 

Can't just remove the crossmember. There are two other parts, bolted to the top of the frame rails, that hold it in place. The bolts holding THOSE parts are very difficult to get to. It's a design that rivals the internal slave cylinder for the WTF factor. The transmission is free of the crossmember. I've found that by prying the other parts up I can get the crossmember out.

Stuck on the engine real good though.