exterior driver side door handle broken | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

  • Register Today It's free!

exterior driver side door handle broken

mike.dukes

Member
Joined
October 9, 2007
Messages
13
Reaction score
0
City, State
Colorado Springs, CO
Year, Model & Trim Level
'91 Mazda Navajo
my handle broke as i was trying to open the door. when i got the door panel off and handle detached, i discovered that the rod connecting the handle to the latch assembly had broken. what i need to know is how to get the latch assembly detached from all the other rods (door lock, interior door pull, etc.) connected to it so i can replace the assembly.
 



Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year.
Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,.
Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!
.











I know this is about 8 months too late, but thought I would post for people to search for in the future.

I had this same problem and dug through some old posts and found a solution. I'm waiting on the parts, but I will post up pics later with a pretty good detailed description.

Here is the link to the part from napa:
http://www.napaonline.com/Search/Detail.aspx?R=BK_7355971_0254083346#

It's listed at part # BK 7355971 on napa's website. I found it by searching for part # 75451. They are about $4 and I bought two cause my drivers side is done and I broke the passengers side looking to fix it.

More details later.
 






I forgot to mention, I have a 1992, your door may be different:

Ok, finally got it all back together. Here is a pic of the part from NAPA:
IMG_0624.JPG


It's part # 735-5971

You have to take 3 screws off the door panel to get it off. The first two are above the door handle and the third is in the upper door panel.
IMG_0627.JPG

IMG_0628.JPG


Then you pry up on the power window controls at the bottom.
IMG_0629.jpg

You will have to remove two screws from the back of this and you will also have to remove the power mirrors.
IMG_0630.JPG


The directions I have seen say to remove the black panel behind the inside door pull, but I didn't have to do this. You just have to maneuver the panel around the pull. You will now need to pull the panel off, be careful not to break any of the fasteners. If any stay in the door, you will have to put them back on the panel, or the panel won't fit back on right. Pull the fasteners out, then pull up and clear the door lock, then I went forward to clear the inside door handle.

Remove the light bulb and this box:
IMG_0631.JPG


At this time, remove the following bolt, or you won't be able to see the broken part:
IMG_0632.JPG


This bolt holds a guide for the window, just remove the bolt (7/16") and the track will slide down. Let it rest at the bottom of the door.

Now you will see the door handle rod comes down to connect to the hinge. This is where mine was broken, the rod wasn't connected to anything and the plastic piece was broken.
IMG_0634.JPG


To remove the broken plastic piece, I had to take the three screws off the hinge from the side of the door:
IMG_0635.JPG


From there you can rotate the hinge around to get at the back of the plastic piece that you need to remove. I used needle-nose pliers as the back has two tabs that have to be pressed in to remove.
IMG_0637.JPG


Here is the broken piece so you can see how to remove:
IMG_0640.JPG


I installed my new pieces as far to the bottom of the handle rod as I could. This took the slack out of the outside handle. Test it before you put the hinges back on as once it is installed, you have to take the hinge back off to get at the back of the plastic piece to remove. I broke one piece like this.

Once you have it tested, put the hinge back in, the window guide back in, tape down the weather stuff and continue in reverse of the above.

Once I found out how to do this, I was able to get both front doors changed in about 30 minutes and that's with taking pictures. The part was $3.99 each.

Hopefully, this little tutorial makes it easier for someone in the future. One of my rear handles is loose and will probably have to be replaced soon too.
 






Right on!

Great write up with pics man! Had to do this about 6 months ago...sure would of appreciated this post..lol....anyway..great job! thanks!
 












Great write up with pics man! Had to do this about 6 months ago...sure would of appreciated this post..lol....anyway..great job! thanks!

Thanks, it's not difficult at all, hopefully this helps more people down the road.
 






GREAT POST! My back two doors will not open from the outside... the doors are not locked and they can open just fine from the inside.... is the same pice most likely broken on them?
 






GREAT POST! My back two doors will not open from the outside... the doors are not locked and they can open just fine from the inside.... is the same pice most likely broken on them?

Sorry, didn't see this sooner. I would think they would be the same part, but I didn't look in my back doors to check. It's not hard to do and you should be able to see them once you remove the door release.
 












Amazing

You are the best cause this just happened to me the other day and I so need to get this thing fixed.
 






This post def helped me with this same darn problem. The only problem I has is I couldn't get the 3 screws out that held the latch in place. I took it to a place that said they could get it out and the fool drilled out the head of the screws without asking me. So I had to drive to a junk yard (holding the door in place with my arm and it was a 30 min drive) to spend $50 on a &30-$40 piece cause they had a $50 min. I was so mad. but other than that the directions helped me very much.
 






Great post - can't see the pics though

This is a great post as I am trying to solve the same problem. I can't see the pics though. Do you still have those attached?

I appreciate the help!
 






I forgot to mention, I have a 1992, your door may be different:

Ok, finally got it all back together. Here is a pic of the part from NAPA:
IMG_0624.JPG


It's part # 735-5971

You have to take 3 screws off the door panel to get it off. The first two are above the door handle and the third is in the upper door panel.
IMG_0627.JPG

IMG_0628.JPG


Then you pry up on the power window controls at the bottom.
IMG_0629.jpg

You will have to remove two screws from the back of this and you will also have to remove the power mirrors.
IMG_0630.JPG


The directions I have seen say to remove the black panel behind the inside door pull, but I didn't have to do this. You just have to maneuver the panel around the pull. You will now need to pull the panel off, be careful not to break any of the fasteners. If any stay in the door, you will have to put them back on the panel, or the panel won't fit back on right. Pull the fasteners out, then pull up and clear the door lock, then I went forward to clear the inside door handle.

Remove the light bulb and this box:
IMG_0631.JPG


At this time, remove the following bolt, or you won't be able to see the broken part:
IMG_0632.JPG


This bolt holds a guide for the window, just remove the bolt (7/16") and the track will slide down. Let it rest at the bottom of the door.

Now you will see the door handle rod comes down to connect to the hinge. This is where mine was broken, the rod wasn't connected to anything and the plastic piece was broken.
IMG_0634.JPG


To remove the broken plastic piece, I had to take the three screws off the hinge from the side of the door:
IMG_0635.JPG


From there you can rotate the hinge around to get at the back of the plastic piece that you need to remove. I used needle-nose pliers as the back has two tabs that have to be pressed in to remove.
IMG_0637.JPG


Here is the broken piece so you can see how to remove:
IMG_0640.JPG


I installed my new pieces as far to the bottom of the handle rod as I could. This took the slack out of the outside handle. Test it before you put the hinges back on as once it is installed, you have to take the hinge back off to get at the back of the plastic piece to remove. I broke one piece like this.

Once you have it tested, put the hinge back in, the window guide back in, tape down the weather stuff and continue in reverse of the above.

Once I found out how to do this, I was able to get both front doors changed in about 30 minutes and that's with taking pictures. The part was $3.99 each.

Hopefully, this little tutorial makes it easier for someone in the future. One of my rear handles is loose and will probably have to be replaced soon too.
No pics show. How do I see them? I could really use them.
 






Back
Top