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How to: How To: Drivers Exterior Door Handle Replacement

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Just fixed my driver's side door handle. The part was 28 bucks, dupi color ford black and clear coat about 10 bucks, painted it, cleared it (like three times) put it on today. Hard time drilling out the rivets, 3 bucks for nuts and washers at Home Depot. Install was easy thanks to the directions here in the forum. I was quoted 80 bucks labor and 75 bucks for painting so I saved some $$ thanks again to this forum.

Man it feels good to have the door handle feel normal and not like it is going to not open the door at anytime. I find myself being so easy on the new one but if for some reason we get to this point again, no big deal.

D a n a
 



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I am having trouble opening my front drivers side door. I can't open it with the key in less I lift up the handle then hold it down.to open it I have to press the remote key a bunch of times or I have to lift the handle up and then hold it down and press the remote key to get it unlocked. I can open the door every time from the inside with out problem. I cant figure out the problem the lock the clip or the spring? I have the trim panel off were should I be looking?


Thanks
 






Since everybody here has had to remove their inner door panel, they have also had to remove the two screws just above the door pull on the panel. (I have a 94 Explorer) My problem is when reinstalling the inner door panel how to get those two two inch screws lined up with the clips on the door to re screw them in. Anybody got a solution to that?

On my doors the screw were angled up alittle not straight in hope this helps
 






Very informative post. I've been jacking with this crap on mytruck for the last couple days(mostly cause it's in the teens here). Now I think I have a firm grasp on just exactly what is going wrong. If my outer door handle is floppy, can I just rig the lock knob linkage and permanently cure the intermittent no unlock problem or do I still have to replace the outer handle? I think I cured the limpness in the outer handle by just adjusting the rod where it clips into the actuator(the yellow clip).
 






My driver side was floppy replaced it you can get new black one for $15 a per handle not bad to in stall biggest pain I had was un clipping the plastic clip. this forum helped me save a couple grand by doing it my self
 






So I figure dout what was going in my trucks door. The internal spring was broken inthe latch, replaced the latch, the outside door handle was floppy, adjusted the rod in the yellow clip to address that. My door lock would not always unlock when hitting the unlock button on the remote or door. What I found is that the lock motor is so weak, it would attempt to push the rod up and would just fall back down. When I removed the motor and bench tested it, the rod coming out of the motor would just fall under it's own weight back into the motor. Now I need to replace the lock motor.
 






My son just picked up a 98 sport and the passanger door will not open no matter what I do.
I have tryed the inside handle/outside handle, remote/door buttons, key.
We have the seat out and the door panel off and I have tryed pushing/pulling on the rods wirh my fingers inside the door wile doing all of the above still can't get IT to open.
Anyone have any ideas?
HELP PLEASE!!!!!!!!!
 






awesome info !!! I find all my parts @ www.carpartswholesale.com. I got my door handle here for $17.00 delivered 2 my door. I do thank you for the information.
 






awesome info !!! I find all my parts @ www.carpartswholesale.com. I got my door handle here for $17.00 delivered 2 my door. I do thank you for the information.



looks like 13 for the part and 9 for the regular shipping and 2 more for handling.

24 bucks. half the costs hidden in shipping which pisses me off. id rather they just tell you its 20+ bucks.
 






This thread has been very helpful, as I have a variety of these issues with my two 97 Explorers. One problem that I have that has not been addressed is with the Driver's side rear door on my wife's Explorer. The door will not unlock with the electronic button or by pulling up on the door lock button on the door. The interior handle doesn't work, either. With this thread, I am confident I can repair all of these problems if I can get the door panel off.

Looking at the panel, however, it seems to me that in order to remove the panel without being able to open the door, I would have to remove the back seat and a good deal of the interior trim panels on that side. Does anyone have any suggestions for getting the door open to get better access to the panel? I had thought about taking the outside handle off and levering the unlock lever up. Would this work, or would I not be able to get enough leverage?
 






This thread has been very helpful, as I have a variety of these issues with my two 97 Explorers. One problem that I have that has not been addressed is with the Driver's side rear door on my wife's Explorer. The door will not unlock with the electronic button or by pulling up on the door lock button on the door. The interior handle doesn't work, either. With this thread, I am confident I can repair all of these problems if I can get the door panel off.

Looking at the panel, however, it seems to me that in order to remove the panel without being able to open the door, I would have to remove the back seat and a good deal of the interior trim panels on that side. Does anyone have any suggestions for getting the door open to get better access to the panel? I had thought about taking the outside handle off and levering the unlock lever up. Would this work, or would I not be able to get enough leverage?

I just removed my back seat door panel without taking the seat out. Remove the 2 door panel screws as described in other posts. Then remove the quarter panel "kick" plastic trim piece the goes from the front to the back on the floor. No screws here, just pry it up and take it out. (start at the front with this piece.) You now have room to get the door panel off. Don't worry about using the door panel removal tool, as there is not enough room to pry with it anyway. Work a slotted screwdriver behind the door panel at the front bottom corner, and start to pull. It will pop right off if you work at it. The little white plastic push pins that hold on the door panel will likely stay pushed in the door, but you can get them out later. I found the same tiny broken spring in my door latch. Door would not open from outside, or inside. Felt like it was locked all the time. Outside handle had full spring tension, so that did not need to be fixed (yet)
 






Here's what I found stuck in my rear door latch, After removing it my door and lock are working fine. I think I will leave it alone and not add any extra springs, or bother taking the latch out. Hope it holds up

014.jpg
 






It looks like that is the outside door handle "kluge" fix. How's your outside door handle?
 






It looks like that is the outside door handle "kluge" fix. How's your outside door handle?

My outside handle is fine. Not sure why this spring is needed, but other posts seem to think it has to do with the lock mechanism. My door handles (in and out) felt like the door was locked, and using the switch or the pull up rod to unlock to do do anything
 






can you email me your pictures cause they dont show up on the web page. hjriley45@msn.com thanks for the post cause I'm having a hard time getting the latch back on the door bracket.
 






The pictures at the very first posts no longer show to anyone. In any case, they are not my pictures so I can't help you. The person you want to e-mail privately is "cherrybomb" the original poster.
 






Just got through this thread and it was a big help for me, thanks to all who've posted. Here is my fix for a stuck closed drivers door, using a spring I had laying around in a parts bin and some stainless bailing wire. The door wouldn't open, so I had to remove the drivers seat to gain access to remove the door panel. From there, you just grab the yellow plastic block and gently lift up, freeing the mechanism and allowing you to open the door with either of the door handles. The spring in my pic just replicates that force so the door will continue to open w/o having to push on that yellow block.

Alternatively, you could replace the door latch mechanism to address the root of the problem, the broken door latch spring (red arrow points to the end of that spring).

IMG_02321.jpg
 






Here's what I found stuck in my rear door latch, After removing it my door and lock are working fine. I think I will leave it alone and not add any extra springs, or bother taking the latch out. Hope it holds up

014.jpg

Exactly the same picture I could have taken from mine.

I rebent the end of it and reinstalled it back into the latch mechanism. I'm able to lock/unlock again, but only the outside door handle works. I had followed the process outlined in this post, but the interior door handle no longer works. It is able to be actuated with the rod by pushing back on it (that is, with the door panel cover off), but it wants to spring back enough so that the door handle isn't "reloading."
 






Here's what I found stuck in my rear door latch, After removing it my door and lock are working fine. I think I will leave it alone and not add any extra springs, or bother taking the latch out. Hope it holds up

014.jpg

Exactly the same picture I could have taken from mine.

I rebent the end of it and reinstalled it back into the latch mechanism. I'm able to lock/unlock again, but only the outside door handle works. I had followed the process outlined in this post, but the interior door handle no longer works. It is able to be actuated with the rod by pushing back on it (that is, with the door panel cover off), but it wants to spring back enough so that the door handle isn't "reloading."
 



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Door handles

If you dont care about the color, i got mine from www.carpartswholesale.com, but of course my x is black. delivered 2 my door was $17.00
 






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