How To: Drivers Exterior Door Handle Replacement

[KristyX28]

My X has a floppy driver side exterior handle. Do I have to replace the whole handle or can it just be fixed with a replacement spring?

[mtnlovrs]

Originally Posted by gapleb

On my '96 explorer the white plastic clip connecting the door lock to the latch fell apart after wear and tear. Now the door lock does nothing at all bc it's not connected. Any ideas where I can get a new clip; does it come with the latch assembly or is there a way to improvise a solution?

http://api.viglink.com/api/click?for...13164514547973

[dcdyd]

I had my latch spring broken and I found it when I looked inside the door panel. With the hel of post 50 I was able to use the broken spring to fix the issue. Before the fix, I couldn't unlock the door from the handle nor from the remote. THank you so much for this thread. I wonder why this is not sticky.

[VAsBoiWonder]

I've been having the same problem since I had to get the glass replaced in my driver side door. I decided to take the door apart today and found the same common problem as everyone else. That spring inside the latch. Looked around and found the replacement. http://www.cjponyparts.com/product.a...paign=shopping. I'll be ordering this today. I'll let you know if it works.

[dakey9]

I had to change the driver's door handle on my wife's 2000 XLT yesterday. If not for this forum, I would have had problems. The Guide was right on.

[cdputzier]

You can get one at NAPA auto for about 6 dollars. Part number is 735-5971. It's called a door lock rod clip kit.

[gapleb]

Thanks, should work for me

[marc with a c]

First post, signed up just to say, THANK YOU to all who contributed to this thread. My passenger door has not been working for a good couple months. Glad this was simple DIY project instead of what Ford quoted me ($300 to just get the door open, and then whatever other labor and parts that would follow).

THANKS!!

[jmcr]

Just did my driver's side door this afternoon. Apparently the spring's hook had sheared off at the long tail end and needed to be re-bent and reattached.

Thanks for this thread! Especially Barn Owl's pics.

The one thing I found was that hooking the spring on the top of the housing and then stretching it down inside the mechanism was easier done from the back side instead of the front where the latch 'teeth' are.

So far the fix works great, but who knows when the spring will finally kick it for good.

[KevN2009]

Wow I've been reading about this problem for weeks, the drivers door lock on my 99 Ford Explorer Sport would not pop up when hitting the keyless entry, it would move but would not pop up. I kept hearing about the spring issue but was confused whether it was the spring in the door handle or the door latch that was causing it. Regardless, in my case the door handle spring was broken and I don't know about the other spring which I could not locate anyway.
So I was about to give up and I saw someone's post with a nice pic of his fix with spring and zip ties. I had gotten a 3" spring from Ace Hardware but had no clue how strong the spring needed to be, mine was pretty damn strong I could hardly bend it. Anyways I thought I'd give it a try, I wound up attaching one end of the new spring to the yellow connector with zip ties and hooked the other end of the spring to the old broken spring on the door handle. Then tighten the zip ties until there's tension on the spring.
To my surprise it worked, and there is now tension and springiness in the door handle again too. The door lock works again! Thanks for the info!

[Bigham]

Once again you guys came to the rescue with a free answer to an annoying problem. I used a spring from the bottom of a sliding closet door to fix mine. Looped under the rod below the yellow clip up to the clip around the key lock socket

[mikelbx01]

Howdy Folks!
Just a note to say thanks to all of you for all the great info about repairing the broken springs in the driver's side outside door handle.
Ford wanted almost $150 for a unpainted new assembly. Online was $125. That's OK but being one that prefers to repair "down to the component level" when I can I did some checking.
Found an after market new handle on eBay for $18.00, the pics looked OK so I ordered it. (Note: The Taiwan product was a good piece, almost a true replication, a lot better than some I've found in the past while doing an old truck restoration.)
While I was at ACE Hardware the other day I got a couple of 1/4-20 x 1/2" SS button head screws and Nylock nuts as per a suggestion in this thread.
My intention was to rob the good springs from the new handle and put 'em on the old one, so... automatic paint match.
That went well but couldn't salvage the hinge pins from the old handle so I had to use the ones from the new handle that I did save. Had to drill out the old handle to accommodate the larger pins.
So in about four hours I was all done. ( I'm retired and don't have to work fast anymore....YES!)
Thanks again for the great info that made my job a lot easier! Cost me under $20 bucks plus the time...

[ford99_1979]

I've been following this thread forever and ever. Many ingenius and cheap fixes. I ended up ordering a handle from LMC truck for $19.95 plus some rivets $0.45 for (4). Got it painted while my steel roll pan was getting painted. Finally got around to installing it and the only snag I ran into was installing the rivets. Of course the rivet tool I had was much too small and I tried drilling out the rivet tool to accept the large factory style rivets without sucess. Ended up borrowing a large rivet tool to complete.

One of the most annoying things wrong with my truck is fixed

[ceddie402]

Thanks for your help. It was a easy to install, it was harder to go to Homedepot to find the right bolts,washers and locknuts. I used 1/4 20 cap screw,6mm washer, 1/4 20 locknut all in stainless stelel and it worked perfect. It was exactly how it was described on your forum. Thanks once again

[DoraDaExplora]

GDAY ALL.

What Is the Part Number for the dreaded broken spring??

Can I Buy It seperate or need to buy whole mechanism. If SO what is the part number?

Thank you all... PS: DOnt buy an explorer in Australia, Australia FOrd WILL NOT HELP!!

God Save the Queen, ANd this forum has saved my Explorer... Many a TIme...

Thank you Thank you Thank you......!!!!!!

[mals]

So I had the typical loose exterior door handle for about a year and then developed the problem of not always being able to open the door from the exterior. After reading all the posts on this thread I tried the spring trick to raise the linkage a bit and it mostly worked for a week. After that failed I decided to just open up the linkage clip and raise the lower linkage and close the clip. Works like a champ now. The exterior handle is still loose but I can open the door from the outside so all is well.
Thanks to everyone who contributed.

Mals

[plmbst]

After removing the drivers door panel and surveying the problem I decided to replace the floppy handle.
Just ordered one outside handle and 2 rivets from LMC, $30.60, including shipping. I've used them before, a fair product for a fair price.

[WatchThis!!]

About 3 months ago I replaced both front door handles and they both just broke again... FML right? Are there any companies that make a metal door handle (other Than chrome) and not the POS plastic ones?

[Cruiser64]

you can find them on ebay I just bought 2 metal ones for $14.25 ea shipped. Have one installed and like the solid feel of it. I think it came from tna auto parts or something like that

[WatchThis!!]

Looked through everything on ebay and nothing for a 2001 aside from the plastic and some chrome covers. Found TNAAutoparts.com but nada. Thanks though