Broken door handle?

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

derekjl

Full Access Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2014
Posts
247
Reaction score
18
The interior door handle on the driver's side of my 1999 Tahoe just seemed to break tonight. Now the handle is loose and flops around. I have to open the window to use the exterior handle to get out of the truck. This actually happened before on a previous 1999 Tahoe we had but it was never fixed. Is the issue definitely the door handle that needs to be replaced, or could the linkage have just fallen off? Thanks.
 

Tonyrodz

Resident Resident
Joined
Feb 16, 2012
Posts
30,993
Reaction score
45,168
Location
Central Jersey
I'd definitely check the linkage first, then go from there. Anything is possible, go for the easiest thing first. I've had an inner door rod fall off before on one of my cars. Sometimes the little plastic clips that hold the rods in place stretch or just break over time.
 

rAiN_Twist

Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2016
Posts
55
Reaction score
1
It's probably not the linkage, it's almost impossible for it to come off the linkage. What you want to do, is take the door panel off, and your going to want to drill out the metal rivet at they put in the handle for some reason. Then slide the handle toward the front of the truck. It should skip right off. Disconnect the lock door linkage, and put on a new door handle (they sell the whole door handle/lock mechanism system at your local autozone. It's like 15 dollars, pretty cheap actually). Just hook the linkage on the new one, and slide it on. You don't need a new rivet because when you put the door panel on, and the ring on the door panel it won't move. Hoped this helped! (PS. Make sure you grab the right handle from autozone, I bought the wrong side handle the first time, lol)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
OP
OP
D

derekjl

Full Access Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2014
Posts
247
Reaction score
18
I ended up ordering the OEM one online. Took about 20 minutes to replace it. The biggest pain in the ass are the door panel clips. If they don't come apart when you take the panel off they are useless. So I got about 10 of those and didn't realize you need to pull them apart, put the one piece IN the door, then the other on the panel and mate them together. Lesson learned. At least my handle works again. I also know the actuator for the lock is getting weak. Sometimes it will unlock/lock, other times it just goes about 1/2 way.
 

jerryjoe28

That Guy
Joined
Nov 24, 2013
Posts
2,709
Reaction score
671
Location
cabot AR
I ended up ordering the OEM one online. Took about 20 minutes to replace it. The biggest pain in the ass are the door panel clips. If they don't come apart when you take the panel off they are useless. So I got about 10 of those and didn't realize you need to pull them apart, put the one piece IN the door, then the other on the panel and mate them together. Lesson learned. At least my handle works again. I also know the actuator for the lock is getting weak. Sometimes it will unlock/lock, other times it just goes about 1/2 way.

did you grease the lock mech? they are prone to drying out and making them harder to lock and unlock the door. you will notice the factory coated the entire mech in grease but over time they dry out and get dirty. the actuator may still be ok, just being over loaded
 

Forum statistics

Threads
129,211
Posts
1,812,239
Members
92,311
Latest member
rs401
Top