Door handle replacement "how to" info

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992dr

992dr

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Where do you guys get your OE interior parts from?
 
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992dr

992dr

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I ended up going with gmpartsgiant. First time ordering from them. We'll see how it goes.
 
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992dr

992dr

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Wow, its here already. Two thumbs up.
The parts look great. This will be my sunday project.
 

Sean James

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The EXterior door handles can be a pain your first time. Here is what I learned after dicking around and beating my head against the door "trying" to do it right. It's a pretty simple hack. Pry up the window switches and disconnect, pry off the interior door panel just enough to access the door light and unplug all the other junk to the interior door panel, tear the plastic away for access to the interior of the outside door handle. Remove the bolts holding the exterior door handle (2), it helps if you have a small 1/4" drive socket set with a "wobble" socket adapter, but it's not impossible to get the bolts out with regular sockets/wrenches. The hard part is removing the small "clips" that hold the interior door handle rod to the exterior door handle, same with the electric lock rod. you can access one or both of the clips from the outside of the door once you have the bolts out (iirc), it's been a while. Have a flashlight handy!

The trick I learned, that I have NOT seen on youtube, or here, is this: It is almost impossible to get the now exterior door handle into the door from the outside, it wont fit in the exterior rectangular hole with all the rods connected and clipped in. (again it's been a while, but I have done it 3 times using this technique without getting pissed off). If I remember right, you can install the horizontal door lock clip after it's all together, or maybe it was the interior door handle clip. Just study it or see youtube, I can't remember exactly now. BUT, here is the hack:

Remove the 3 torx bolts from the rear doorjamb that holds the door latch/lock assembly into the door (the assy that locks onto the giant bolt that holds the door shut on the body) Don't worry, the latch assy wont fall to the bottom of the door, it will just drop a 1/4-3/8" down. This gives you just enough room to slide in and out the VERTICAL metal rod that goes into the door latch assy hole, and to ANGLE the old door handle out, and angle the "NEW" door handle in!

Once you have the rods lined up, you can install the clip(s) on the horizontal rods, then make sure the vertical rod goes into the latch assy hole (the one that you removed the torx bolts from) This makes it easy for the new door handle to slide right into place on the exterior of the door. You can then run a bolt or two into the latch assy, don't torque it down until you set the screws for the new exterior handle. Once everything is loosely in place test before closing the door. You can then start to snug everything down and check. After proving that all works well, you can torque down the doorjamb latch assy, and GENTLY tighten the new outside door handle...DO NOT crank down on the new door handle bolts!! The handle housing is plastic and they WILL crack, just snug them down and leave it. Your probably going to have to replace them in another 5 years anyway.

The biggest problem I had was getting the NEW door handle in, with the vertical rod properly placed in the door latch assy, it just would not go, I fought it, angled it every which way, and chewed up the paint around the exterior of the door trying to get it in with the latch assy in place. Once I removed the large torx bolts at the rear of the door (above the breather vent panel), I could do this job in 30-40 minutes. You can also remove the plastic breather panel on the end of the door to better see what you are doing with a flashlight. It will help a lot if it is your first time.

Hope this helps you guys.
 

Jobin

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Hello,

Would the door handle from the rear gate be the same as the right side front passenger door? It looks the same, and I don't see a part number for the rear gate door specifically, but i do not want to make an assumption and be wrong.

Thank you for all the help
 

BIGFOOTDUDE1

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I did this change on my 98 Hoe and used the cheap ones from Ebay and it broke within 2 weeks so spent a lil more dollars and bought the Delco 2 years no problem. Just my 2 cents. Oh same on interior handle the cheapie break. Good luck. Bigfootdude1
 
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