96 Tacoma Door latch (door wont close)

Hey everyone, I'm back with another foray into dealing with discontinued parts on my early ('96) 1st gen Taco.

My doors have been getting rather difficult to close over the last couple years and I was able to rule out it being an issue with the striker on the door frame or any sort of door alignment issue. The doors will catch the secondary safety latch, but getting them to close all the way to catch the primary latch required slamming the absolute crap out of them. Upon reading up on the matter it seems like most people that had this issue were able to fix the problem by just replacing the door latches. Here's where it gets sticky (no pun intended).

I've found that in '96 when they first started releasing the "Tacoma" in the US, they built at least a few parts for them, that they ended up changing for some reason or another *before* they moved to the 2nd gen design. So, even though pretty much everything from a mechanical design standpoint is the same within the 1st gen ('96-'04), there are a few parts that didn't continue forward. In my case, the door latch (with power locks) is a different part number for '96 than it is for the rest of the 1st gen trucks. Not only that, but the part designed for the '96 is now discontinued and more or less impossible to find without going to a junkyard, which there is a surprising lack of out here in Hawaii. There is also no mention of a superceeding part, and as usual, the dealer is useless.

Now, the latch for my truck *without* power door locks *is* available, but I happen to like my power locks and didn't want to give them up if I didn't need to. So I went out on a limb and ordered the part that is listed as for '97-'04 Tacomas, hoping I could make the thing work in some form or another. I figured (correctly) that since the door is still the same within the 1st gen trucks that it would at least bolt up, but that I may have to do some tinkering with either the control rods or wiring to make it function properly.

I removed my old latch and compared the two parts on the bench to see if I at least had a shot, and here's what I found.



Basically some minor differences, but overall things looked like they matched up pretty well. The even had the same style harness connector which was a happy surprise. I tried looking at wiring diagrams to see if I could determine if anything was wired differently but I think both of these latches may be aftermarket, as I wasn't able to match up colors on the diagrams for either year. I figured what's the worst that could happen right?

So I hooked the new one up to the door harness and.......it worked perfectly normal. Sweet! It also bolted right in and all the control rods seemed to fit decently

Most importantly, the latch where it contacts the striker didn't look like it had been beaten to death over decades of mistreatment. (comparison of installed new latch next to old annihilated one).



I tested the door and handles before buttoning the thing up and oh man, it closed like a dream. It's never been so easy to shut.

I did have a couple issues that honestly may have more to do with the condition of my truck than the new part but I'll lay them out here and what I did about them.

First when I went to open the door from the outside, the handle didn't work. I feared it was going to kill the whole project but then I found that the lever on the new latch wasn't quite catching the clip on the outer door handle. A small amount of persuasion got the bend in the latch lever to catch the outer handle just fine. Now it works every time.

Second, the rod going up to the manual door lock nubbin on the windowsill felt pretty stiff when moving it by hand. When I went to use the power lock, I found that it was so stiff that the lock actuator would try, but then back off and not actually move the lock. Again, a little persuasion was all it needed . I spent a little time finagling the bends on the rod running from the latch mechanism up to the door lock nubbin and eventually got it shaped in a way that didn't seem to interfere as bad. I put it all together and, while that manual lock still feels a little stiffer than the original part, it moves enough by the actuator for it to work via the door lock button

So now I'm off to order the passenger side and do it all again so the wife can actually get her door closed too. Also, I have to start training myself to *stop* slamming the absolute crap out of my door. Anyway, hopefully this will be helpful to someone out there. My next project will be to see if a 2002 steering intermediate shaft will work on this truck, because...same deal. Different part number, no supercession and original part discontinued. I have a thread going for that project as well.

 

Wish I had seen this post earlier. I just did the same upgrade on my 95.5, on both the passenger and driver sides. Same problem with the lock not working perfectly, I’ll have to tear it apart again and mess with those rods. Otherwise, wow what a difference, feels like a brand new truck again.

 

Yeah the doors close great. That being said, neither the lock itself or the opening of the door feel *quite* right. I might go back in and mess with the rods more but at the moment it all works well enough that I don’t feel much need to. The door closing cleanly for the first time since I owned the truck is a fantastic improvement.

 

I have the same issue with my 99. The door will close and lock but it rattles around while I'm driving unless I slam it which is really annoying. I tried adjusting the striker on the door jamb out which did make the door shut nicely but also compromised the weather stripping which allowed water in. I was at a loss on it but I guess I'll look into getting a new latch

 

First of all thanks for your original post Taco2. Reading it gave me the confidence to try this out myself on my truck. Both latches have been really tough for years and never thought to try and change them out. I just added grease and even had to replace a couple of exterior handles after breaking them from yanking on them to get the door open. Mine are not power locks so I didn't have some of the issues you had. I will say this: I looked for my parts under the '96 model that mine is and found nothing like you mentioned. The only parts available through Amazon and I believe RockAuto were '98 and newer. So I took a chance and figured I would return it if it didn't fit, but lo and behold the passenger side which I ordered first went on without a hitch. I ordered the driver's side the very next day and now I am opening and closing my doors probably even easier than back in '98 when I purchased the truck used. I think with the new latches there are some plastic parts that make it a little quieter and sound like a "modern" latch. So for anyone wondering if they should order the '98 latch for your '96, go ahead. At least in my case for non-power locks it worked great. I'll try to attach some pics later in case someone needs some visuals. BTW I ordered my new latches through Amazon. Thanks again Taco2!