Electrical Are there any aftermarket door lock actuators that actually work?

[89notchDude]

I ordered 2 door lock actuators from LMR which are absolute junk. Each one has the same issue. There is not enough force to lock and unlock the doors. (btw the locking mechanisms are all lubed up and I could manually open and lock it with a feather if need be). The other issue is the actuator motor itself has so much physical resistance, that once installed, I cant even lock/unlock using the door lock rod. Are there any brands that are decent? I dont want to hunt down and pay premium money for a 40 year old device. Thanks in advance.

 

[JD1964]

With some moderate fabrication skills you can retrofit these. They’re very powerful linear motors. I’ve done my passenger side already. I need to do the drivers side too. Someone has a write up tutorial on here about it but I can’t remember who off the top of my head.

Amazon.com

 

[nickyb]

The late(great) J.RichKer did the write up,its awsome.

 

[89notchDude]

With some moderate fabrication skills you can retrofit these. They’re very powerful linear motors. I’ve done my passenger side already. I need to do the drivers side too. Someone has a write up tutorial on here about it but I can’t remember who off the top of my head.

Amazon.com

Thanks guys... I know what ill be doing this winter......

 

[nickyb]

Here it is.

 

[Mustang5L5]

The Dorman ones are thought to be the “best” aftermarket. I had one fail and the LMR one wouldn’t work unless the car was running (12v vs 14v).

Found an NOS one on eBay and went that route.

 

[Cheapskate207]

I used the ones @JD1964 linked. They work great and have been installed for years. User Gravydog did a little write up in his build thread.

So tonight was all about getting the power locks to work. I read thru several threads and saw @jrichker had a solution using cheap universal door lock actuators. So after a little searching, I found a kit on Amazon for $10. jrichker did a very detailed write up, and fabricated some nice pieces to put these in almost like a factory installation. I however did none of that, I'm much too lazy, and decided to use the actuator rods and clamps in the kit and come up with an alternative method. No step by step write up from me, but here are some pics, I did ziptie the wires neatly after the pictures were taken.

They work like a charm, so for $10 I'm happy.

 

[89notchDude]

You guys rock... I ordered the ones from the amazon link above....I'm gonna play around with the fabrication to make it all work...Ill try and get some detailed pics posted.

 

[cbac89]

I ordered 2 door lock actuators from LMR which are absolute junk. Each one has the same issue. There is not enough force to lock and unlock the doors. (btw the locking mechanisms are all lubed up and I could manually open and lock it with a feather if need be). The other issue is the actuator motor itself has so much physical resistance, that once installed, I cant even lock/unlock using the door lock rod. Are there any brands that are decent? I dont want to hunt down and pay premium money for a 40 year old device. Thanks in advance.

Ive been working on mine all day and was having the same issue, i couldn't move the rod at all once the actuators were installed. Then i discovered that you need to fully extend the actuator before you install it, and then it works, otherwise its locked up. Unfortunately, you do need a full 12-14 v to make them work, which means no remote opener, which sucks.
I managed to get both doors to lock , but they dont unlock, so now im chasing this, im thinking it may be one of the switches since they are in parallel. Good luck.

 

[vindieseljetta]

Dorman from rockauto

 

[Noobz347]

Voltage Up Converter:

Amazon.com

 

[FastDriver]

I'm gonna say it... F()*% LMR for continuing to sell that junk. I took great care on install to clean, grease, WD40.. yadda yadda... The LMR actuators can't move out of their own way. Get the Dormans. Here's my post on them. LMR has obviously been receiving these complaints for years and years, and acting like they don't know... Get the Dormans, and move on with life. They're working great in black jack. Here's the link to where I figured this out. You can also find the confusion I had after the brand new LMR versions failed me.

Post in thread 'Black Jack: Working up to slicks'

Jun 20, 2024

Guys, after almost 2 years of fiddle-f*$^#ing around with the LMR door locks, I noticed someone on FB mention the same problem and that they had much better luck with dorman actuators. They were right! I just got done installing the Dormans and it's night and day. Happy to have functional door locks again. I bought a small stock of them, because if Dorman ever stops making 'em, I want enough to last me a long time. Went ahead and did the window bushings and greased everything up again while I was in there.

• FastDriver

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