Switch out locks when doing rebuild of door?

[Gone Kayaking]

Hi all
I am finally getting around to rebuilding the door on my 56 Shasta. It came apart easy enough, and I'll need to get a couple of trim pieces fabricated at the sheet metal shop but think I'll be able to keep the skin (yeah). A few months back I picked up a Bargman 66 lockset (with working keys) figuring I'd put that in when I did the rebuild, swapping it out for the much less

substantial lock I now have. Well now that I've looked at it I'm not so sure. If I put in the bargman, I'll need to cut a much bigger hole in the door skin, mortise out a section of the frame and beef it up. I don't have a great shop set up so the mortising part makes me a little nervous. The old lock works okay...though had gotten fairly loose because it wasn't really attached properly, think I can fix that no problem. So all, what do you think....switch it out or keep it?

Here's a couple more pics of the existing lock (inside) and the holes in the old door frame.

[westend1530]

You know you can replace the handle with keys for $12.00 @ vintagetrailersupply.com

www.vintagetrailersupply.com/Trailer_L_Handle_p/vts-167.htm

You can get bothsides for a little bit more

www.vintagetrailersupply.com/Canned_Ham_Door_Latch_p/vts-215.htm

[persimmonpal]

I had the same crappy lockset on my 64 Compact, and did the same thing. I installed an L-66. With the Bargman screwed together, It was still too thick to properly seat itself in the thin door.. I had relined the inside of my door with birsch, so I jst went ahead and cut a few "spacers" to place on the door inside the lock, that way I could screw it in tight.
Getting it just right so that it would latch was a bit of a pain, not have the tools to do it, but I used some large drill bits to start the hole, then chisseled out the rest. It definitely is not "Museum" quality, but the lock looks awesome, is nice and tight, and works great... Thats all I need!
Good Luck!

[Gone Kayaking]

Okay anyone want to break the tie?
Persimmon Pal--So do you cut a hole in the skin the size of the lock? That's the part that I really don't like is cutting a hole that large that then has to be sealed with butyl. Or am I missing something. The thing that's nice about the L handle (my existing one or a new set) is that it is just a few small holes in the skin and no mortising.

[persimmonpal]

Yes, I did have to cut the skin of the door, and install with Butyl tape.
It was an easy decision on my part, because the PO of my trailer had changed the position of the handle 2 or 3 times, leaving open holes in the door. I think if the skin was intact, and the lock worked fine (mine didn't), I would have had a harder time cutting into the door, but in my case it was overall a big improvement... I ended up actually covering the holes with the larger lock, so it was a bit easier to do.

[vikx]

I like the original lock. It is my aim to save most of a trailer and the locks are kind of cool...