egrylls
Member
- Joined
- December 25, 2009
- Messages
- 14
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- City, State
- Aurora CO
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 01 Sport, 06 XLS
So not finding any good threads on how to actually do this, I figured why not document my experience so you can hopefully have a little easier time if this happens to you. This is on my wife's explorer XLT that I broke the handle on the drivers side rear door off. It was cold, okay!?!?
Tools : Trim removal tool, couple flatheads, 10mm deep well socket, 7/16 deep well, socket wobbly, socket extensions, 7/16 wrench, a little grease, needle nose pliers, tape to protect paint, flashlight, patience...lots of that. Forget the Haynes manual, it's worthless for the door where the interior handle is on the front of the arm rest and you pull it up.
Time to complete 90 minutes. Should be easier and faster with a walkthrough since I had nothing to go on. I know next time will be much faster and easier.
Step 1 : Break handle.
Step 2 : Gather tools and make sure you have good lighting.
Step 3 : Remove side outer trim piece from arm rest with trim removal tool. I started on the piece towards the back of the vehicle. Discovered later that was definitely the right way to go because there is a lip on the front of the piece that could be broken off if done another way. It may take a little force, but dont wrench on it. It will come with good steady pressure.
Step 4 : Remove top trim piece where window controls are at. I found this to be essentially the same process as the trim in step 2.
Step 5 : Detach power connector from top trim piece and set trim piece aside. You will see on one side where you can easily press the tab in to readily remove the power connection. I set the top trim piece aside and then routed the power cable inside the door so it was out of the way.
Step 6 : On the bottom of the door is the only fastener you can see without removing trim pieces. Remove this with your 10mm.
Step 7 : Manually lock the door! I think having the lock in the up position may make this harder. It also should minimize your risk of bending something if you get a little too tough with trying to remove the interior door panel.
Step 8 : Remove the two 10mm screws from within the door handle assembly. Be careful with the bottom one. I dropped it while removing it and was able to get it before it fell into the door innards...but I dont think I'd want to have to fish for it. This is where maybe adding a little grease to the socket might be beneficial and make it somewhat sticky to prevent gravity from making your day worse.
Step 9 : Remove trim from interior door lower handle. I used the trim tool from the bottom and had no problems getting it off. Be patient and gentle again.
Step 10 : Remove the 2 10mm screws from inside the lower door handle.
Step 11 : Start removing inner door panel. If you have removed 5 screws you should be good. I found that pulling out on the top of the door panel I heard a pop. Not like plastic breaking, but like two surfaces separating. I did this all along where the window met the interior door panel.
Step 12 : Start seeing some daylight. Now I can see the speaker etc...inside the door itself so I'm making progress! At this point, I lifted upwards from the bottom of the panel and the whole panel easily came off. Eureka!
Step 13 : At this point, the only thing holding the door panel to the door was the linkage for the interior door handle to the cable. Here's where I made a stupid mistake. I left the door panel hanging. It didnt damage anything, but it complicated the replacement and eventually I got so frustrated I just removed it anyway, so save yourself time and frustration and get it out of the way. It takes a little finesse, but where you see where the cable comes out of the sheath or housing, there's a funnel type of coupler. I used my needle nose to compress the funnel shape (black) gently back through the white plastic enough that I knew I could pass the cable itself through the tiny gap in the white plastic. Dont bother trying to activate the door handle because that just increases the tension. Once you've got the black funnel shaped end of the cable sheath through the white plastic, it takes a little man handling to get the cable through the small gap, but it can be done. Resist the urge to use a tool here. I didnt want to risk breaking that cable and I got it out with bare hands. Once the cable passes through the small gap (you can see the black peeking through it, its a simple matter to remove the end of the cable from the interior door handle.
Step 14 : Now the door panel is out of the way (yeah - it's hanging in my pic!) you will see the barrier. Just start gently pulling from the upper left and you'll see that whatever adhesive Ford used here is actually reusable! If you can avoid tearing that material, you can just press it back into place, so be careful! Another tip here is pull off more than you think you will need. Getting to one of the nuts for the handle is going to be a pain and if you dont have enough room to reach up in the area...boy are you going to know it! I had enough pulled back I could stick my arm in all the way to the elbow. At first it was much less, but after scratching my hand and wrist numerous times, I decided enough was enough. Just pull it back...trust me on this.
Step 15 : Your first peek at your personal hell for the next 30 minutes or so.
In this one, you can see the first nut on the right inside the door skin. Get your flashlight and look for the second one in the upper left. Theres no way to get a pic of it, so take a looky. When you find that nut in the upper corner, you should give it a name now. You will become very familiar with it. I called my "You little mother blankity piece of blank." Seriously, this is where some grease proved to be useful to make that nut and the bolt of the new handle sticky. Be ready for cramped, uncomfortable work with little to no visibility. Just DONT drop that nut all the way to the bottom. I dropped it at least 4 times and luckily it fell into the latch assembly just below for me. But that was dumb luck.
Step 16 : This is the mechanism. Look at where the orange color is and see it hook through and down? Once you get the bolts out, you pull the handle out and finagle this hook out of the handle. DONT force it. Looking below, its a plastic piece. You break that, I think you just spent a lot more money.
Step 17 : Keep pulling kids. See the opening I had in the lower right? I eventually opened it up more. Dont be shy. The adhesive seems reusable. You'll thank me later. If you cant reach that nut in the upper dark corner, either your arm is too short for this job or you havent pulled enough of that stuff back.
Step 18 : STOP. This is where you decide on the paint. If you value the paint on your explorer, then you had darn well better heed this advice. Tape the outside of the door to prevent it from getting scratched. If you dont care, then fine...proceed. Otherwise spend 7 cents on a little tape to protect that paint on the outside of the door. Nothing will make the wife more mad than you fixing the door handle and subsequently causing hundreds in paint damage.
Step 19 : Remove the bolts. This took a combination of the 7/16 sockets, wobblies, extensions, and bare fingers. I did the one in the deep back corner first since I knew without a doubt it would be the worst. The one visible straight on was a walk in the park.
Step 20 : Now you should have the old handle unattached except for the activation bar. This takes some finesse to get the handle out of the vehicle, but if you've made it this far you CAN do it. I found that pulling what was left of the old door handle like it was opening made the metal bar at the top move enough and could coax the handle out. Once you have it out of door and hanging from the metal rod only, look at the orientation of the metal rod. It is angled near the top and you'll want to put it in at the same angle. Dont unscrew it either. It is threaded down in the guts of the door. Also, you will know now why you put that tape on the door.
Step 21 : This is just a blurry pic of the metal bar angle. I wasnt sure if this was right at the time because I didnt know until after I had the handle off, but its got to be right. My new handle works!
Step 22 : Attach the new door handle. Make sure you attach the bar from step 21.
TIP : At this point, remember that something like 90% of all accidents or mistakes happen in the last 20-25% of a project. If you are tired, maybe take a break. But be very alert before you continue.
Step 23 : Reassembly is the reverse of disassembly. Here is where you will really learn to hate that stupid nut. Putting that annoying thing was absolutely the worst. Mostly because of the mistakes I made earlier. If you've followed my advice and experience in the previous steps, especially about not being shy about fully removing the inner door panel and the weather proof door lining, it makes it exponentially easier. I would conservatively guess I wasted 20-30 minutes because of those 2 simple steps.
Step 24 : Tips....
When attaching the side trim on the door handle release, angle it in from the front. You look close and on the round end you will see there is a lip. That should go over first then you tap it in place.
Dont overtighten the screws for the handle inside. Yeah - you could break your new handle. I didnt but I got them to where I felt good it was going to be fine.
Remove your tape before final tightening of the nuts on the handle.
When reattaching the interior door panel, notice all those tabs and how they fit into the door itself. You need to align those. Also, make sure your door lock is lined up with the hole on the top.
During reassembly, make sure you can roll the window up and down with no adverse noise, that you can use the new handle okay BEFORE you reattach the inside panel....that the inside handle works before you reattach trim pieces, the door lock works as expected during all phases of reassembly...test test test and retest. Last thing you need is to put everything back together to find out you can open the door from the outside for some reason, right? Also - check the child locks if you use them.
Above all, be patient. If you make mistakes on this job, people WILL see it. Dont wrench hard on anything. If you are patient, I believe this job isnt too hard.
Good luck and long live the Blue Oval.
Tools : Trim removal tool, couple flatheads, 10mm deep well socket, 7/16 deep well, socket wobbly, socket extensions, 7/16 wrench, a little grease, needle nose pliers, tape to protect paint, flashlight, patience...lots of that. Forget the Haynes manual, it's worthless for the door where the interior handle is on the front of the arm rest and you pull it up.
Time to complete 90 minutes. Should be easier and faster with a walkthrough since I had nothing to go on. I know next time will be much faster and easier.
Step 1 : Break handle.
Step 2 : Gather tools and make sure you have good lighting.
Step 3 : Remove side outer trim piece from arm rest with trim removal tool. I started on the piece towards the back of the vehicle. Discovered later that was definitely the right way to go because there is a lip on the front of the piece that could be broken off if done another way. It may take a little force, but dont wrench on it. It will come with good steady pressure.
Step 4 : Remove top trim piece where window controls are at. I found this to be essentially the same process as the trim in step 2.
Step 5 : Detach power connector from top trim piece and set trim piece aside. You will see on one side where you can easily press the tab in to readily remove the power connection. I set the top trim piece aside and then routed the power cable inside the door so it was out of the way.
Step 6 : On the bottom of the door is the only fastener you can see without removing trim pieces. Remove this with your 10mm.
Step 7 : Manually lock the door! I think having the lock in the up position may make this harder. It also should minimize your risk of bending something if you get a little too tough with trying to remove the interior door panel.
Step 8 : Remove the two 10mm screws from within the door handle assembly. Be careful with the bottom one. I dropped it while removing it and was able to get it before it fell into the door innards...but I dont think I'd want to have to fish for it. This is where maybe adding a little grease to the socket might be beneficial and make it somewhat sticky to prevent gravity from making your day worse.
Step 9 : Remove trim from interior door lower handle. I used the trim tool from the bottom and had no problems getting it off. Be patient and gentle again.
Step 10 : Remove the 2 10mm screws from inside the lower door handle.
Step 11 : Start removing inner door panel. If you have removed 5 screws you should be good. I found that pulling out on the top of the door panel I heard a pop. Not like plastic breaking, but like two surfaces separating. I did this all along where the window met the interior door panel.
Step 12 : Start seeing some daylight. Now I can see the speaker etc...inside the door itself so I'm making progress! At this point, I lifted upwards from the bottom of the panel and the whole panel easily came off. Eureka!
Step 13 : At this point, the only thing holding the door panel to the door was the linkage for the interior door handle to the cable. Here's where I made a stupid mistake. I left the door panel hanging. It didnt damage anything, but it complicated the replacement and eventually I got so frustrated I just removed it anyway, so save yourself time and frustration and get it out of the way. It takes a little finesse, but where you see where the cable comes out of the sheath or housing, there's a funnel type of coupler. I used my needle nose to compress the funnel shape (black) gently back through the white plastic enough that I knew I could pass the cable itself through the tiny gap in the white plastic. Dont bother trying to activate the door handle because that just increases the tension. Once you've got the black funnel shaped end of the cable sheath through the white plastic, it takes a little man handling to get the cable through the small gap, but it can be done. Resist the urge to use a tool here. I didnt want to risk breaking that cable and I got it out with bare hands. Once the cable passes through the small gap (you can see the black peeking through it, its a simple matter to remove the end of the cable from the interior door handle.
Step 14 : Now the door panel is out of the way (yeah - it's hanging in my pic!) you will see the barrier. Just start gently pulling from the upper left and you'll see that whatever adhesive Ford used here is actually reusable! If you can avoid tearing that material, you can just press it back into place, so be careful! Another tip here is pull off more than you think you will need. Getting to one of the nuts for the handle is going to be a pain and if you dont have enough room to reach up in the area...boy are you going to know it! I had enough pulled back I could stick my arm in all the way to the elbow. At first it was much less, but after scratching my hand and wrist numerous times, I decided enough was enough. Just pull it back...trust me on this.
Step 15 : Your first peek at your personal hell for the next 30 minutes or so.
In this one, you can see the first nut on the right inside the door skin. Get your flashlight and look for the second one in the upper left. Theres no way to get a pic of it, so take a looky. When you find that nut in the upper corner, you should give it a name now. You will become very familiar with it. I called my "You little mother blankity piece of blank." Seriously, this is where some grease proved to be useful to make that nut and the bolt of the new handle sticky. Be ready for cramped, uncomfortable work with little to no visibility. Just DONT drop that nut all the way to the bottom. I dropped it at least 4 times and luckily it fell into the latch assembly just below for me. But that was dumb luck.
Step 16 : This is the mechanism. Look at where the orange color is and see it hook through and down? Once you get the bolts out, you pull the handle out and finagle this hook out of the handle. DONT force it. Looking below, its a plastic piece. You break that, I think you just spent a lot more money.
Step 17 : Keep pulling kids. See the opening I had in the lower right? I eventually opened it up more. Dont be shy. The adhesive seems reusable. You'll thank me later. If you cant reach that nut in the upper dark corner, either your arm is too short for this job or you havent pulled enough of that stuff back.
Step 18 : STOP. This is where you decide on the paint. If you value the paint on your explorer, then you had darn well better heed this advice. Tape the outside of the door to prevent it from getting scratched. If you dont care, then fine...proceed. Otherwise spend 7 cents on a little tape to protect that paint on the outside of the door. Nothing will make the wife more mad than you fixing the door handle and subsequently causing hundreds in paint damage.
Step 19 : Remove the bolts. This took a combination of the 7/16 sockets, wobblies, extensions, and bare fingers. I did the one in the deep back corner first since I knew without a doubt it would be the worst. The one visible straight on was a walk in the park.
Step 20 : Now you should have the old handle unattached except for the activation bar. This takes some finesse to get the handle out of the vehicle, but if you've made it this far you CAN do it. I found that pulling what was left of the old door handle like it was opening made the metal bar at the top move enough and could coax the handle out. Once you have it out of door and hanging from the metal rod only, look at the orientation of the metal rod. It is angled near the top and you'll want to put it in at the same angle. Dont unscrew it either. It is threaded down in the guts of the door. Also, you will know now why you put that tape on the door.
Step 21 : This is just a blurry pic of the metal bar angle. I wasnt sure if this was right at the time because I didnt know until after I had the handle off, but its got to be right. My new handle works!
Step 22 : Attach the new door handle. Make sure you attach the bar from step 21.
TIP : At this point, remember that something like 90% of all accidents or mistakes happen in the last 20-25% of a project. If you are tired, maybe take a break. But be very alert before you continue.
Step 23 : Reassembly is the reverse of disassembly. Here is where you will really learn to hate that stupid nut. Putting that annoying thing was absolutely the worst. Mostly because of the mistakes I made earlier. If you've followed my advice and experience in the previous steps, especially about not being shy about fully removing the inner door panel and the weather proof door lining, it makes it exponentially easier. I would conservatively guess I wasted 20-30 minutes because of those 2 simple steps.
Step 24 : Tips....
When attaching the side trim on the door handle release, angle it in from the front. You look close and on the round end you will see there is a lip. That should go over first then you tap it in place.
Dont overtighten the screws for the handle inside. Yeah - you could break your new handle. I didnt but I got them to where I felt good it was going to be fine.
Remove your tape before final tightening of the nuts on the handle.
When reattaching the interior door panel, notice all those tabs and how they fit into the door itself. You need to align those. Also, make sure your door lock is lined up with the hole on the top.
During reassembly, make sure you can roll the window up and down with no adverse noise, that you can use the new handle okay BEFORE you reattach the inside panel....that the inside handle works before you reattach trim pieces, the door lock works as expected during all phases of reassembly...test test test and retest. Last thing you need is to put everything back together to find out you can open the door from the outside for some reason, right? Also - check the child locks if you use them.
Above all, be patient. If you make mistakes on this job, people WILL see it. Dont wrench hard on anything. If you are patient, I believe this job isnt too hard.
Good luck and long live the Blue Oval.
