Hey guys, have a question, these trucks came with a door lock on the passenger side but not the drivers side, I want to have a lock on both, don't care if they are electric, but don't want to use door poppers, as I lucked into a set of NOS outside door handles and want to use them. I was thinking some sort of solenoid with a plunger in the door and a bracket in the frame with a hole to receive the plunger?, any ideas or seen anything out there that would work? Thanks in advance!

When I had my 39 Dodge pickup, I bought a pair of door handles with locks in them. They replaced the standard door handle. I bought the pair from www.vintagepowerwagons.com. the key only prevents the handle from turning and doesn't do anything with the latches. Each handle is keyed separately, but there are times you can get a matched pair of the keyed locks that use the same key cut for both handles. Generally they make another run of the locking handles when their stock gets low. You have a better chance of getting a matched pair of keyed handles when the run is fresh, those pairs sell out first. Those handles are for the 39-47 cab, I don't know if they would work (or could be made to work) on a 38 or not. They are kind of a pain because you have to lock and unlock both handles from outside, and they have no effect on the inside handle locks. If the inside handles lock the doors, the key will only unlock the handles, not the latches. The inside handles still have full function, regardless of the outside handles being locked or not (that is not always bad, but its also not as secure).

On my 49, I have a set of remote door locks. They are very similar to the door poppers and are solenoid operated, but only operate the lock assembly it self. The kit comes with stuff to attach to the lock portion of the latch. I have modern "bear claw" latches in my 49 so I just needed to attach to the rod for the door locks. If the 38 latches are like my 39 latches, or the like my original 49 latches, the driver door lock is part of the latch assembly and operates using the same rod to open the door and to lock the door with the inside handle. For it to work on your 38, I suspect you will need to attach the solenoid to that rod so the solenoid pulls the rod in the correct direction to lock the door and push it back to unlock the door. The key lock on the passenger door has a separate rod for the key to connect to, its pretty easy. The remote lock "kit" I bought was just form E bay (about 3 years ago), buy a "kit" with the most lbs of pull you can buy, and don't buy a kit from the Hoffman group. The "kit" I bought came with 2 key fobs, 2 solenoids, wiring, a "control" box, a package of various connectors and rods to use to attach the solenoids to the latches, and instructions. The control box allows you the options of connecting the solenoids activation to the horn, and/or the lights if you choose. On my 49, I did add an extra rod inside so I could unlock the door from inside without the fob if I want (but again, I have modern latches).

I just looked on Vintage Power wagons, it looks like they are out of stock on the door handles, and don't list the locking ones at all, you probably need to call them about the locking handles. I bought a pair of Ford locking handles thinking I could modify them to work on my 39. They did work, but the handles were turned 90 degree (the handle orientation on the square shaft is 90 degrees off). I only modified one of those 2 handles, If you want to try them on your truck, you can have the pair I have here for the cost of shipping.

Hey poorboy, thanks for all the help on this, the '38 and I believe '37 use a their own outside door handles, fit between 2 body lines, I was lucky finding a pair of NOS handles, as no one makes them. I don't think the doors have any of the rods anyway, planned to make something there. The passenger door still has a lock cylinder, but its locked solid, won't move at all.
I will check out Ebay for the kit, see what I can figure out from there.

Your inside door handle probably pulls forward (or backwards) to lock the doors, and moves the opposite way to open the doors, currently. If that is the case, the solenoid will need to attach to that linkage connected to the handle so it can pull the linkage in the proper direction to lock the door and the proper direction to unlock the door. Moving the driver door inside handle to the lock position should prevent the outside handle from turning, then moving it back to the unlock position (like you want to open the door) should free up the outside handle to turn again, if the lock portion of the latch lock is functioning correctly (I would try it with the door open). I believe the passenger door inside handle should work the same way, but it may only lock and unlock with the key lock.

If you can get the current key lock out of the door with out killing things, you may be able to buy a new lock cylinder with a key off ebay. It would be worth while to find out how to change the key lock in you passenger door. A lock smith may be able to make your existing lock work if you can get the key lock cylinder out of the door.