broken door handles - inside and out! | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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broken door handles - inside and out!

frozen_in_nd

New Member
Joined
January 31, 2009
Messages
9
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City, State
Bismarck, ND
Year, Model & Trim Level
95 Eddie Bauer Edition
Ok, so my drivers side rear door has both the interior and exterior door handles broken. The handles are still there, but they don't work anymore. My question is: How to do I fix a door I can't open?

would I have to somehow get the trim off the column between the rear door and the drivers side door so I could unbold the door hinges?
 



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remove the inside door handle and pull the metal rod if you can get to it. it is usually the plastic interior handle that breaks and not something in the latch assembly.
 






It is the outer door handle which breaks first, then while failing to push the linkage high up to the home position, the linkage jams. It is when in this condition the interior handle will break if used.

You need to replace both the interior and outer door handles.
 






My old 95 had the same problem. Both rear doors, the outside handles would work, but you had to pull them ALL the way, interiors wouldnt work though
 






well the exterior handle just "flops" - feels like it's not connected to anything. But, the same goes for the inteior handle - the handle isn't busted off, but like the exterior handle just feels like the linkage isn't connected or something...

Do you need to remove the door panel to get the interior handle off?
 






1/4" rivets hold the outer handle to the door. Drive the center pin out with a punch and drill them out. I just used bolts to re attache it. Your call there

The inner panel does need to be removed also, not only to replace the inner handle but also to access the linkage rods. You need to disconnect the linkage to do this

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=215085&highlight=door+handle
 












It is the outer door handle which breaks first, then while failing to push the linkage high up to the home position, the linkage jams. It is when in this condition the interior handle will break if used.

You need to replace both the interior and outer door handles.
Yes but how do you fix the door handles if you cant open the door to fix the?
 






Work a bent coat hanger thru the window channel to catch the levers to pull it up, or use a 'slim jim' to open the door?
 






It is the outer door handle which breaks first, then while failing to push the linkage high up to the home position, the linkage jams. It is when in this condition the interior handle will break if used.

You need to replace both the interior and outer door handles.
How do you do that if you cant open the door?
 






How do you do that if you cant open the door?

With great difficulty, and a lot of luck. The easiest possibility is the inner door handle, there may be enough of it left to work with using a screw driver or pliers, to operate the inner portion that opens the door. Start with that, go slow and try carefully to get the thing to pull on the inner linkage which you cannot access. The door handles are all plastic, inner and outer, with some small amounts of metal components. So be easy with them, even in broken condition, that inner handle is your best bet to open the door, without destroying the door panel.

If the linkage is jammed in some way inside the door, it may not be possible to open the door without reaching it directly with tools or by hand. After trying the inner door handle and making that function, everything else will be much harder. So go easy with it now so you don't have to hurt the door panel etc. It may not be hard to find a matching door panel, but usually they are hard to locate.
 






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:sawzall:just a joke!
 






Yes but how do you fix the door handles if you cant open the door to fix the?
Use an drill and bit to physically dismantile the very molecules of the door and handle in order to access the inner working rods . U you might to use plyers and a crows prying bar to physically open the cavity enough to begin pushing the actuation rods
 






With great difficulty, and a lot of luck. The easiest possibility is the inner door handle, there may be enough of it left to work with using a screw driver or pliers, to operate the inner portion that opens the door. Start with that, go slow and try carefully to get the thing to pull on the inner linkage which you cannot access. The door handles are all plastic, inner and outer, with some small amounts of metal components. So be easy with them, even in broken condition, that inner handle is your best bet to open the door, without destroying the door panel.

If the linkage is jammed in some way inside the door, it may not be possible to open the door without reaching it directly with tools or by hand. After trying the inner door handle and making that function, everything else will be much harder. So go easy with it now so you don't have to hurt the door panel etc. It may not be hard to find a matching door panel, but usually they are hard to locate
 






theres no message you added, just dons quote
 






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