Anyone stiffened/beefed bearclaw latch springs?

Hiho-

I'm using bear claw door latches at each rear corner of the tilt nose on my car. They work well but the problem is that the nose (fiberglass) is much heavier than a door, not to mention it opens up instead of out, so when the latches are popped, the springs aren't heavy enough to push the pin up out of the jaws the nose just sits there. I could rig up another spring to keep constant upward pressure on the nose so it would pop when the latches are released and it would probably work ok but keeping constant pressure on the 'glass & latch pin doesn't inspire a lot of confidence. Conversely, it looks like the spring in the bearclaw latch itself isn't actually activated until the latch is popped, so there is no pressure on the pin itself under normal conditions when the nose is down and latched. Has anyone changed these springs for heavier ones?

thanks, Bill

Reply to
Bill
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Rather than altering the internals of an engineered latch assembly, why not fabricate a steel latch pin mount, that attaches to the hood, and has an adjacent "push plate" that another spring or door popper can push against. This would eliminate your concern of putting constant spring tension against the 'glass, since the "push plate" would be tied direcly to the latch pin.

I'm guessing that you already have some kind of metal "L" bracket mounted to the hood that positions the latch pin horizontal so it works with the bear claws. What I'm suggesting would be to make the hood mounting leg of the "L" larger so a door popper can push against it, and not the 'glass.

Reply to
v8z

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