stupid door locks- have a theory

Why would you spend 90 bux on door lock actuators?? That's rediculous. I bought door lock actuators from parts express for $3.97 apiece. That was 3 years ago and they still work great.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2444707066&category=46093

bought some last year and they looked new and still going strong!!!

slick88GT said:

Why would you spend 90 bux on door lock actuators?? That's rediculous. I bought door lock actuators from parts express for $3.97 apiece. That was 3 years ago and they still work great.

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I just ordered 2 of those actuators for about 14.20 shipped, is there anything you have to do to get them to mount and work right? cause obvisouly there not going to slide right in like factory ones. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I have helluva trouble with the damn actuators. I bought 2 new ones, and they seem to want to pop out of the bracket every now and then. When they do that they either dont work and/or make a loud noise. Gotta remount them again this week.... Has this happend to anyone else or is it just my horrible install job?

they are the ford ones. got them from dallasmustang.com i believe.
$45-50 each.

Well come to think of it. The first one didnt, i must have orderd from a different place. So I think that's why I have been having trouble with that one.

The second one on my drivers side door did and it was working fine for a good while until recently where it doesnt work. I need to open and investigate.

The biggest problem I would say is getting your hand in there and manoveuring everything.

xplo89gt, When I replaced mine, the passenger side actuator had fallen out and was just laying in the bottom of the door. The original bracket was still attatched, so I turned it upside down so the hooks are pointing up. I put the new one in and used a pair of pliers to carefully squeeze the rubber bushings in. I couldn't do it by hand. It works fine and I doubt it will come out as easy as it would with the hooks pointing down. I got mine at 50resto for $50.

Hey, retards!! Stop wasting your god damn money on those junk-ass ford actuators for $50 apiece! Oh my god that is so ridiculous to waste that kind of money on such a crappy actuator. Parts Express has actuators for like 4 or 5 bux apiece and they work great! Anyway, bmo37, when I installed mine I bolted the actuator to that bracket you get and that bracket actually lined up with 2 holes already in the door below the lock. Then take that bar and slide it through the top of the actuator so it sticks straight up and use the clamp to frimly attach it to the bar that goes straight to the lock pin that goes through the top of your door. I clamped them together somewhere below the top of the door. You are basically just attaching the actuator to the door lock pin as if you were unlocking it by hand instead of using an actuator. Hope this helps. Sorry everyone if I came off as a dick, but I just get frustrated when people waste 50 bux on a damn actuator.

Here is a tech article with pictures on installing the aftermarket Parts Express actuators. I did the same, but installed mine at an angle so the rod is parallel with the door lock knob rod and it seems to work smoother, for me at least. I spent $12 on mine since I ordered a set with a friend.

http://www.westsidemustangs.com/site/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=4

I just attached some spade connectors on the ends of my new actuators and plugged them into the Ford plug, and wrapped it all with electrical tape. That way I did not alter the wiring harness any.

Good luck!

edit: TRB hadnt posted yet when i started this, i apologize for any redundance. guess it took me a while to type and make sense of my ramblings.
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i share the sentiments that slick 88 does, though not nearly as passionately.
get lock actuators from www.partsexpress.com
i got mine for 3.37 each on sale.

it sounds like 88 did his differently than mine. i followed jrichker's write up:
http://jrichker.stangnet.com/Mustang_tech/door_actuator_fix/1_of_8_door_actuator.htm
NCD, i hope that kinda answered some questions too.

i chose not to purchase the stuff he did. as usual for Joe, his retrofit will long outlast the car. i cut corners. things you can change and still have functionality: instead of drilling the door, you can simply get some nails that are the same gauge as the new lock acuator holes. take two, cut them each so that they are each half the distance from bushing to bushing, and slide them in through the bushing on each side. they met in the middle (same structural elements as one bolt). put tape on each head so that they cant back out. the nails cant back out anyways. i recommend this if you have plastic brackets, as they are not in the same place as the metal ones jrichker had. so his measurements will be off. this is easier anyways.

you can use muffler strap to bridge the distance from the actuator rod to the linkage where the stock actuator hooks up. get some at parts store, cut a piece that has two holes (two holes long). cut on the outer edges of the adjacent holes, so you have more metal to work with. i rounded the edges with tin snips and wrapped both ends with a few passes of electrical tape. then cut through the tape to expost the hoes again. idea being, that the metal is now wrapped in tape and less likelyto chafe anything. use a small machine screw and lock nut to attach the actuator rod (it has a hole on the end of it) to the metal bracket you just made. i used a zip tie to attach the other end of the metal bracket to the linkage where the stock actuator attached (there is a hole to attach through).

this worked perfectly for me. my point to all this is, unless you have the stuff jrichker used on hand, my way costs even less (i had it all on hand except for lock nut to attach the actuator rod to the metal bracket. cost pennies at the home store.

like i said, his way is better, but mine works for cheap. it is really satisfying to know that i can replace actuators for under 4 bucks (i order from parts express several times a year (restock so shipping cost is not an issue. buy 3 or 4 the first time and you are good forever.

it takes anywhere from an hour to several (i spent several re-engineering stuff). i did scrap the nails and use a bolt as warbird did, only because i want to measure and provide him with exact measurements for the plastic brackets. i did not get it exact, so i didnt give info to him. i can measure if you want, but the hole is outside the door panel, so its ugly. i recommend the nails. they wont come out (friction hold them in, they dont have lateral room to back out regardless). and the second one you do (i.e., other door) will take 1/10th the time since you know how to do it.

if nothing else, this write up shows you how to do it (it sounds like more of a PITA than it really is). i ended up lookin at his finished actuator with the linkage (on the last page IIRC) and re-did it with stuff i had.

if you wanna do it, and have questions, post or pm. im sure myself or 88 can help out. definately worth it to me (just in principle; im not paying 40 bucks for actuators that break all the time). i share 88' sentiments, but dont articulate so, as everyone has different levels of skill. (i would not have done it when i was startin out wrenchin on cars, as i didnt have the skill. ok, i would have, but im trying to make a point). different priorities for different people (if i was rich i wouldnt care. LOL).

good luck with whatever route you take.

LOL, yes the door lock actuator thing is one of my pet peeves when I see people spend so much money on them. Hopefully we can let everyone know that they dont have to spend so much $$ anymore Anyway, I came off as a jerk in my post and I'm sorry again, I was having an extremely bad day and was not in a good mood Sorry ndc5.0lx, but I have no idea about those bushings, I've never screwed with them before. Let me know when you figure something out, good luck!

slick88GT said:

LOL, yes the door lock actuator thing is one of my pet peeves when I see people spend so much money on them. Hopefully we can let everyone know that they dont have to spend so much $$ anymore Anyway, I came off as a jerk in my post and I'm sorry again, I was having an extremely bad day and was not in a good mood Sorry ndc5.0lx, but I have no idea about those bushings, I've never screwed with them before. Let me know when you figure something out, good luck!

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good thing u replied on this post because i was all ready to fork over 90 bux for the stock actuators. I held off for so long just because of the damn price and i never actually thought about another alternative. I even considerd buying used ones on ebay for 30 bux but than u don't know what your getting and odds are the same problem will occur in a short amount of time after the install. once again thanx for the input

xplo89gt said:

I have helluva trouble with the damn actuators. I bought 2 new ones, and they seem to want to pop out of the bracket every now and then. When they do that they either dont work and/or make a loud noise. Gotta remount them again this week.... Has this happend to anyone else or is it just my horrible install job?

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Tie strap.