I would like to offer my two cents to the original instructions for removing and replacing the front latch on a 1999 Ford Explorer XLT. I am not sure who is still driving a 1999 Ford Explorer XLT in 2025 like me, but for those who get this far in the post, hopefully I can help you avoid some headaches. I did read this entire post and comments before attempting to replace my front door latch. I found the initial posted instructions useful but with several errors. I suggest you print it out if possible so you can follow or add my additional points or corrections. Here are my symptoms: the exterior door handle no longer opened the door. The key to lock and unlock the door from the exterior no longer would turn freely. The power lock actuator did not seem to be able to raise the drivers knob at the top of the door panel, but worked for all the remaining doors. I was able to open the door from the interior handle. I first decided to look at the visible latch to see if the mechanism was stuck in some way, but it seemed free, however, as some other posters have stated there was a partial spring hanging. I realized after reading all the other posts that this spring was probably my issue, but was not positive it was not also the power door actuator. I wanted to isolate or figure out the problem before ordering parts, but nothing online made things clear for me, and unlike some other posters I do not make a habit of replacing items that are not broken. Since the spring was visible and the end of the spring looked broken off, I decided to at least order a new latch assembly. The early people who posted here seem to acquire the latch from Ford for a great price. Unfortunately now in 2025 the latch from Ford is nearly $200 with tax and since I am planning on getting a new vehicle within the next year, I was not sinking that kind of money into my vehicle. I was able to get a replacement latch from the "Dorman" company from Amazon for about $50. FYI the Dorman latch is good product and matches up perfectly with the OEM, other than not having the gold iridescent color. I am not going to re-write the original post with the 18 points for the latch removal, although I could, but what I am going to offer here are some changes. After removing the door panel and peeling back the inner liner, you are ready to proceed. Do yourself a favor the liner is very sticky and you want to keep it that way, so at the end it can be re-installed like we never were inside the door. If you carefully pull it loose starting from the latch side it will remove without tearing and you should try to peel in back past the inner door handle. At that point so it does not unwind or get in the way, attach the liner with some masking tape to the door frame in the front. Now we can get started. Follow steps 2, 3, 4, on initial write up. At step 5 all is correct but let me make this clear for you. There is a small yellow plastic clasp that has a swing door that holds the door handle rod to the latch assembly. The way you open it is while looking at it, it opens from the right of the clasp to the left. If you have an inspection mirror and place it near the clasp you will see a little protruding edge on the right while looking at it through the open door frame. You can either grab it with you finger and pull, or if you have a small hook tool can grab that edge and pull towards the front of the vehicle. Once open, you will understand much better what I have tried to write here for clarification. As far as marking the visible threads before detaching the rod from the clasp, that is a good idea. Number 6 was no big deal for me, as long as you have a larger size phillips screw driver and know the process of keeping the driver firmly pushed in the screw heads as you carefully break the screws free. Now on 7 that is where the loose latch is pushed down a bit to get the rod that attaches to the door knob at the top of the door free from the inner door frame. This is cumbersome with all the rods attached but is doable. The next step 8 is where you need to release the rod that goes from the latch to the door key lock. You will see the bar is attached to a pinkish colored clip that looks like a "V" with the rod in the middle of the V. Some posters in this write up talk about removing the C-Clip near the key lock to make this easier, I would not bother with doing that. One of the posters in this write up talks about using a normal size regular screwdriver to release the latch rod from the lock cylinder. That guy is my kind of guy. He is absolutely correct on the method. You simply put the flat head of the screwdriver in the center of the "V" and carefully rotate the screwdriver which will push both legs of the V clasp "outward" and allow the rod from the key lock cylinder to be freed. We are now up to 9 on the original write up and this is where I realized that the original write up is not correct. At this point you have the latch almost free...... but you have to get the latch off the "J" hook that attaches the latch to the rivetted power door lock actuator. To do this you have to be able to rotate the latch towards the front of the vehicle in such a way that you can get it off the hook. This is ridiculous!!!! I was able to do it, but the amount time and effort to do it and not bend any of the rods or damage any wiring or just scrape the hell out of your hands is crazy. I am not a Ford Mechanic, but I assure you that if Ford was performing this operation, part of the procedure in removing and replacing the latch would involve removing the power door lock actuator. With the actuator removed/loose this whole job is much much easier and makes total sense. Like some other posters have said if you are going to go through replacing the door latch you might as well change the power door lock actuator at the same time, I am pretty sure if you brought the vehicle to Ford they would also recommend that be done. Now as far as myself, as I stated I do not like to replace things that are working. After I got the latch out and off the "J" hook to the power door lock actuator, I was now able to test the power actuator to see if it was binding or causing any of the symptoms that I was going through. My lock actuator was totally free and went up and down with no problems, so I had finally gotten to the point that only ordering the door latch seemed the correct choice for my issues. Although I saw no way that I could assemble the new latch and install it with the three rods attached and at the same time, while leaning it forward enough to get it to hook on the "J" rod of the power lock actuator, I did "attempt" to do it. I will say that as far as doing this on a 1999 Ford Explorer XLT with power locks, it CAN NOT BE DONE. Sure it can be done if you want to bend the hell out of the rod that extends the door knob at the top of the door frame; or if you do not mind destroying the new plastic hold clips that keeps the rods attached to the new latch assembly, but I assure you that is not the proper procedure for doing a latch replacement, and I have always tried to do things in a way that makes sense and does no damage, even if it means doing more steps. I also am sure that a Ford Mechanic would not do the job that way either. The proper procedure is to release the rivet holding the power door lock actuator, which would now give you the room you need to do the job in way that makes logical sense. I was going to remove the rivet but recalled reading one of the other posters, ( Robert is his name), who talked about getting the power door lock actuator released from the cage that holds it without removing the rivet. This involves using two regular screwdrivers slid in from the top front which is easy and the rear which you barely have any visual for and prying ever so gently so that the two **** on either side of the power lock actuator can be freed from the metal cage that holds it. This procedure is not super easy, but is definitely doable for an enthusiast type. If you would rather make it easier, than just knock out the rivet and replace the power lock actuator cage rivet with a bolt and nut. A stainless steel bolt and nut for the job at Home Depot or Lowes will set you back $2.50. I of course went the way of using screwdrivers since I did not want to even spend another $2.50. With the power actuator removed and loose in the door, this job for removal and re-install is so much easier and the way the job should be done. So as far as I am concerned at step 9 when the latch is all loose and only being held on by the "J" hook on the power door lock actuator, please add to the original write up: Step 9A: Remove the power lock actuator from the door frame by hammering out the rivet or if you are talented at repairs you can do it with two screwdrivers. Obviously if you are removing and replacing both the latch and power door lock actuator you will have much less problems with this whole job. Finally I had a quality battery operated light with built in magnetic for sticking that I got at Harbor Freight that stuck to the inner door frame and gave me plenty of light, which is totally necessary to see what you are doing for this job. Good Luck.
