Recently the casing on my storm door's inside latch cracked, leaving
it held by only one screw. I bought a Wright prefabricated latch to
replace it.

The outside and inside pieces are held together with machine screws
that pass through holes in the inside piece and into metal sleeves
in the outside piece. I cannot drive the screws into the sleeves
far enough to hold the pieces together firmly. (No, the spindle is
not too long.) The sleeves don't seem to be threaded very far. The
latch is usable but it's loose and it rattles. The kit comes with
some shorter screws (unmatched) but they're too short to reach through
the door.

How would you handle this problem? Set washers under the screw heads?
Return the latch as defective?

-:-
"To what do I owe the honor of this unexpected visit, Lord
Ruthven . . . alias Lyford Pemberton!"

H. C. Artmann, "Tom Parker, International Detective"
--
Col. G. L. Sicherman

Take a hack saw and cut a little off the end of the longer screws or
just file them down a bit.

Agreed. Or hack a little off the metal sleeves. Whichever is better
for your situation. If you shorten the screws there is a simple trick
to get them threaded properly. If you have a nut that fits the screws,
put it on and screw it past where you need to make your cut. Cut the
screw and then back off the nut. This re-taps the screw good enough to
use right away in your door.

In .com,
wrote:

Agreed. Or hack a little off the metal sleeves. Whichever is better
for your situation. If you shorten the screws there is a simple trick
to get them threaded properly. If you have a nut that fits the screws,
put it on and screw it past where you need to make your cut. Cut the
screw and then back off the nut. This re-taps the screw good enough to
use right away in your door.

Thank you both for your kind advice. I now have another problem.

The holes for the old latch were spaced wrong for the new, so I had to
redrill all but one of the holes. What's a good way to plug the old
holes? Duct tape would be adequate but ugly.

-:-
Nothing changes,
But nothing's the same....
Dance and love,
Eat and fight
At the DISCO,
Disco Delight!

--Bob Burden
--
Col. G. L. Sicherman

Thank you both for your kind advice. I now have another problem.

The holes for the old latch were spaced wrong for the new, so I had to
redrill all but one of the holes. What's a good way to plug the old
holes? Duct tape would be adequate but ugly.
insert a dowel
or
fill with plastic wood (or wood putty)

"A deaf heart, a loose liver" wrote in message
Thank you both for your kind advice. I now have another problem.

The holes for the old latch were spaced wrong for the new, so I had to
redrill all but one of the holes. What's a good way to plug the old
holes? Duct tape would be adequate but ugly.

Paint the duct tape.