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MG TD TF 1500 - Striker 'Wedge' photo anyone?

The archives are chock full of info on the infamous "striker plate & wedge" (#401-408). I'm wresteling with mine for the 50th time or so because it's popping open again. I've read all the techniques and have a marine latch installed for saftey. What I don't know for sure is what this "wedge" looks like. Does anyone have a picture or can point me to this "wedge"? I have the chrome piece with 4 holes and a non-chrome piece of same shape/size that fits behind the chrome piece and screws into the wood pilar. But it doesn't look like a "wedge" to me! I know the wedge exists because they are for sale on the web even though Moss catalog diagram doesn't show it.

Happy Fall,
Ed
efh Haskell

Think I answered my own question - duh! The "wedge" is the piece that bolts into the striker plate using a dome nut. It has the hole in it into which the latch is supposed to reside. (Yea, good luck!) My mind was confusing "wedge" with "shim".
efh Haskell

Ed,

The trick is to shim out the striker plate or shim out the latch so that when the door is fully closed, the pin will reside in the hole. Sometimes it is alignment, sometimes the angle of the piece needs to be adjusted by shaving washers and/or using more in the front than the back, or vice-versa.

Good luck!

warmly,
dave
Dave Braun

Do yourself a favor and bench assemble the latch and wedge before you assemble the parts. I've had to file the striker to get the wedge to fit in enough to reach the second click.
While the wedge and striker are off, adjust the door gap so the door fits, both up and down as well as laterally. You may have to adjust the strap to get the twist of the door right. Ideally, the door will not hit, the skin of the door will form a perfect gap against the tub, hitting both rubbers on the tub, and there will be a continious line from the scuttle, across the top of the door to the back of the tub. I have used scraps of pine to bend the hinges by placing the wood in the hinge and forcing the door closed to increase the space in the hinge.. To close the gap I have clamped the hinge in a vise.
When you install the striker, make sure the three machine screws are loosely threaded in to the attaching plate in the door. Also make sure the wedge plate has the two machine screws threaded in to the t nuts in the door jamb. Loosely line the door up and check the alignment.
You can add washers to either side of the wedge to get it to line up with the striker on the door.
You can either remove wood from the door jamb or add shims behind the latch on the door to get a good alignment. Once it is all longed up, tighten the three machine screws in the latch and the two on the door striker. Check again, then add the one wood screw to the latch on the door and the two wood screws on the latch plate. Two clicks and a perfect alignment, easy, right?
-David
D. Sander

Ed; Fought one side of mine for a considerable time before I discovered that the pin would not drop fully into the hole even with both parts in hand. Nose of the pin would drop in far enough to fool you into thinking it was latched. Finally drilled the hole in the wedge about .030 larger and realigned per Dave and Dave's suggestions - works really slick now. By the way - just because the handle moves to the latched position, don't assume the pin fell in the hole. Pin is sent home by spring tension, not the movement of the handle. My 2 cents, Dan
Dan Craig

This thread was discussed between 16/10/2011 and 17/10/2011

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