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I've got a '74, complete with the muffs. It's interesting, in contrast I find the 181's without the muffs to have less character... just kind of bland. As previously mentioned, it's all about preference I guess.

A technical question though. One of my doors no longer wants to securely close all the time. I've inspected the mechanisms, check the alignment of the post to the latch and thoroughly lubricated the latch mechanism (the house smelled like WD40 for a week). It still takes 4-5 times of closing the door (at times) before it will secure. Sometimes I can lean against it and then lock it and it will stay in place.

What am I missing?

sounds like it is out of adjustment, I find I have to close the door a little more deliberately than a modern vehicle, were you just swing it closed. If I swing the door hard, it will bounce back- maybe the rubber door stops are old and hard- someone on the site knows more than I do.

Mike

It is the tilt of the striker that causes this.

sdycus56 wrote:I've got a '74, complete with the muffs. It's interesting, in contrast I find the 181's without the muffs to have less character... just kind of bland. As previously mentioned, it's all about preference I guess.

A technical question though. One of my doors no longer wants to securely close all the time. I've inspected the mechanisms, check the alignment of the post to the latch and thoroughly lubricated the latch mechanism (the house smelled like WD40 for a week). It still takes 4-5 times of closing the door (at times) before it will secure. Sometimes I can lean against it and then lock it and it will stay in place.

What am I missing?

Take the latching mechanism out and clean it. Lube it with white lithium grease and reinstall it. It will work like new. I know because I was having the same problem with both my front doors. They would even unlatch and open as I drove. Once I cleaned 30 years of crap out of them they latch with minimal effort.

By the way....73 is the year to buy.

Keep your questions coming. We love it when we get a chance to help a fellow Thing owner in any way. It is part of the unwritten Thing owners code. Helping others improves the enjoyment of our combined passion.

Mike Perez wrote:What I need is a good THING repair manual, somthing that shows specs, wiring diagrams and step by step repair.

While not Thing-specific, these have been very helpful to me.