Power door lock covers

I hope you make that work well, I'm interested in how the stock assemblies worked.

I have an idea to use a 95-01 Explorer door latch, and a matching lock actuator for my Ranchero.The later Fords have the small arm that an actuator connects to, I think the latches will go in the old Fords. If so, I might also use the Fox Mustang actuators, which are very quiet compared to the Explorer actuators, and have shorter rods(to fit into a tighter space).

I'll see if I can find a picture of what they used to look like.

The rubber cover is very important, but the only purpose is to protect the actuator motor from water dripping down onto(in) it by way of the window.

I'm very familiar with them in the Mark VII's, without the cover the actuators usually don't last very long. When the window outer felt/seal cracks from age, much more water gets into the door and if the actuator has no cover, they die in a short time, say under 2-3 years.

So be sure the window felts have excellent rubber, or replace them ASAP with power door locks.

BTW, that lock actuator motor looks just like a Fox Mustang part, except for the large section where the motion is converted into a different direction. The later actuators all just have the shaft coming out of them, and a rod that goes straight to the door latch mechanism. So the late model actuators have to be in line with the latch locking lever, which puts them directly below usually. I like the later latches because they are still available NOS, for about $60 last I looked. They also have the latch switch(door jamb switch) built into them, so you could eliminate the door jamb switches.

is this your door lock actuator ?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/265321167782

not that $$$ but Green Sales might know if the boots are available separately,

and might even have them?

on the cheap a couple PVC shipping bags might work?

that PVC stuff is pretty tough, i can hardly get them darn bags open!

some of the cheap ones are designed to disintegrate though

We purchased a Purple mattress yesterday and it came wrapped in heavy clear plastic (like a thick shower curtain) that I hung onto to see what I could make with it. I'm sure there may be others out there that are in need of those covers if nothing NOS/OEM is available.

i just had a thought (wait for it  )

could you fab an awning of sheet metal maybe even copper to shed away any water ingress from the top?

I haven't had one in my hands, but it does look to clearly move inside the boot. I've thought about a deflector of some kind for my Lincoln, back when it ate two new actuators in under two years(not driven much either). I think any splashing of water that could get into the motor would be bad, I don't know why they seem to be so sensitive, or poorly sealed from water. I think they relied on the rubber cover and never worried about making the motor better able to survive some water. There should be very little water in the doors ever, but the issue has been known for a long time. Some cars are just worse than others, probably a lucky thing for many cars that rarely have the issue.

Keeping the window felts/seals in great shape is a big key, and then the cover for the actuator just needs to stop any water from getting to the top of the motor's upper shaft. So depending on the space and shape around the top side of the actuator, it may or may not be possible to create something better for it. A simple plastic bag etc, might be perfectly adequate for a long time.

Fingers crossed....

I hope that works, it doesn't have to be perfect or attractive, just water proof to any water from above it.

72 RS 351 wrote: I have seen people use old inner tubes as covers/boots for steering shaft u-joints. I would look for that kind of rubber materiel. You only need a large enough piece to cover the top area of the motor itself, keep water from weeping down to it. You might zip tie a piece of such an inner tube to make the top, with RTV inside where you tie it together. I don't know what would look great at all versus the well shaped original pieces.

First issue was "waterproofing" the motor. Since the boots were really a thin rubber membrane that deteriorated over time, most of the NOS pieces had similar issues with the boots being compromised so I had to figure out a new solution. Since Don said it was really only the motor that needed to be protected after several attempts top fashion some kind of boot, I decided to just cover the motor and that made the solution a bit more easy to accomplish....

A trip to my local bike shop yielded a bike innertube the correct cross-sectional diameter to snugly cover the motor.

I cut sections of the tube long enough to allow material to be sealed and then folded over and sealed again on one end and turned under on the opposite end to form a cuff so there wasn't a raw edge of the innertube exposed.

The new "sleeves" fit over the motor and wiring connector nice and snug to prevent any (hopefully) moisture from getting into the motor and reducing it's life.

The next issue was the rubber bushing that secured the operating rod to the motor driven gear. As had happened to the boot, the rubber had turned to goo and did not hold the rod in place. There was no exploded parts illustration of the lock actuator assembly, so I had no basic part number to search for so I had wing it. I found an old section of rubber hose that had the correct id to allow the rod to slip thru and the correct od to fit snugly into the operating gear opening, so I cut a section a bit longer than the thickness of the brass bushing in the gear, pushed it into the bushing and threaded the rod end thru the rubber and hooked it into place and viola..... issue resolved!

The last obstacle to tackle was the gear stop. The original stop was a piece of heavy rubber covered brass that was wrapped around a T shaped boss on the actuator bracket that prevented the motor from driving the gear too far in either direction. Again, the rubber had deteriorated into a gummy coating on the brass backing and not performing as intended, so I pried the brass wrapping from around the boss. The rubber hose I used for the rod bushing was slightly too small in diameter to prevent the gear from bottoming out on the bracket, so once more I scratched my head and went looking for a solution. I discovered some rubber, mushroom headed bumpers that were designed to be pushed onto a round peg or something similar. Found one with the correct id to fit around the bracket boss and the od large enough to stop the gear before running into the bracket but was too think, but hey, it's rubber and I have a sharp blade in my cutter, so I order a package. Once they arrived, I found by cutting them just under the mushroom head and stacking two of the heads onto the bracket boss, the gear was stopped as it should.

Took a bit longer to resolve that I thought but I think I now have everything taken care of and the motors are now ready to go into the doors and hopefully serve me well for many more years.

(PS the only difference between the driver side and passenger side actuators is the direction the actuating rods are wound, so if your motor quits working, keep your rod and then should you only locate the opposite hand actuator, change out the rod and you'll be good to go!!)