Window Latches

JSanford

JSanford

Well-known member
Sep 29, 2019
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Sacramento, CA
Can someone explain how to properly use these window latches in my '77. The owner's manual says push up on the button on the bottom of the latch and squeeze the handle. My latches don't have a button, they have this thin bar thing that can be slid up and down. Are you supposed to slide it up part way and then squeeze? Really confused. Some of my latches are loose and rattle.
2019-10-27 at 11-32-28.jpg

Thanks, Jeremy
 
The bar is a lock and also the spring for the handle.....the one in the picture has the bar/spring in the wrong place....the square part thats over the ledge should be perpendicular to the top of the handle ( so facing you if you are looking at the handle) and the rest of it kinda slides behind the handle as a spring. So the book is correct..push the square and squeeze the handle. Its kinda hard to explain and im not anywere near mine to show you.

Grab the top at the square part thats hanging over the handle and lift it up towards the roof.....look down at the top of the handle....youll see the slot it belongs in....
 
Hi J Sanford, I had the same question except only one of our windows still had the spring steel part so I figured it had to be removed to unlock but ended swapping over to the old style locks when we had all the glass out.

they are easier to operate but they dont seem to be very secure. maybe thats just how the older ones are, can anyone else reading confirm that and/or if the later style as in the photo more secure than the earlier ones?
 
JSanford said:
Okay, thanks. Maybe there used to be a rubber nub on the bottom, because as it is it is a thin sharp bar not a "button" on the bottom.
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No the bottom sharp end sits inside the handle....the whole thing has to come up that height. I wish i could find a picture for you as its almost self explanitory. I had the same thing until i pulled the the "blade" out and relised how it worked.
 
The latch in the photo is pretty secure once you get the spring steel piece installed correctly, because the latch sections attached to each window interlock. There was never any kind of rubber cover on the spring steel piece; you operate it by grasping the U-shaped section.

Hehr makes a plastic latch that can be adapted to fit, but when thus adapted the pieces no longer interlock so the latch can be defeated by separating the windows slightly.

Another way to secure these windows is to put a dowel (I use a shortened fiberglass rod designed for marking driveways for snowplows) in the lower channel, and install a screw in the channel right where the curve starts so that the dowel has a stop to sit against. Thanks to Jim Bounds for this suggestion.
 
Christo said:

Facebook

www.facebook.com www.facebook.com
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rather not go on facebook if it can be avoided but those are the ones I'd previously written about. we swapped out the ones on the '76 like in the OP to the Herh. thought they (Herh) were from the earlier style windows since our '74 came with them. I did not modify them,that may be why they dont lock securely..
 
Christo said:
My FB post has several photos of the plastic latches in addition to the one that appears above. There's a full description of the modifications that are needed to make the plastic ones work.
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yes, I looked there thats why I wrote 'those are the ones' do they lock as securely as the ones like OPs? since you are the author of the FB info, would you mind posting the info here directly for those of us who are not FB members and what not? not my intent to offend you or anyone else, just helps to have as much info here as possible IMO

p.s. the hehr's I have came with plastic 1/8" (aprox.) spacers that fit between them and the glass, did yours have them and did you use them?
 
Oops, my mistake, there's only one photo of the plastic latch; it's the one that appears in the thumbnail above. Here's the description of the required modification and the photos:

I just got some plastic replacement latches for the living room and bedroom windows (Hehr H695 in the first photo). In order to make them fit, you have to trim some plastic from each end of the wedge-shaped latch as shown so that it will fit inside the old strike plate. There are also two L-shaped pieces above and below the latch that are designed to hook behind the strike plate and prevent the windows from being spread apart as a way of defeating the latch. Unfortunately the L-shaped pieces don't work with the GMC strike plate so they also need to be removed to allow the latch to sit deeper in the strike plate. It might be possible to modify the strike plates with a Dremel tool in order to make the L-shaped pieces functional, but I wouldn't want to try it due to the risk of ruining the latch or the whole window!

The bottom line is that I don't see any way to secure the windows with these plastic latches. Once you spread the windows apart about 1/8", all you'd need would be some sort of suction cup to get enough sideways leverage to slide the window. The original latches (pictured) are a much better design. They're all metal and they have a sliding lock that fits into the existing latch and prevents the windows from being spread apart.

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thanks Christo! since we only had one that still had the spring steel component, I installed those Hehrs while I had all the glass out, I also got them nice and tight so it may be a real hassle to remove them again with glass in place. think I'll just make a small rod to put in the lower track of each for a lock.
 
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