2013 Tahoe passenger side door handle cracked

[expredator]

So I've got the problem that the interior door handle on the passenger side has a crack and the "stuffing" is not held in place. It accordingly looks weird. I've taken a picture from the top, but couldn't from the bottom because there isn't enough room there for my phone and the picture comes out super blurry. Essentially, on the other side of the handle (the inferior side) there is a linear crack going sideways. I am trying to find an easy DIY fix without having to replace the whole door panel, which it appears is the only real fix as far as I could find out, but I'm not interested in paying several hundred dollars for this at this time.

Anyone been in this situation? What can I do to make the handle 1) hold it nicely together and 2) not look broken?

Thanks so much guys!

 

[swathdiver]

So I've got the problem that the interior door handle on the passenger side has a crack and the "stuffing" is not held in place. It accordingly looks weird. I've taken a picture from the top, but couldn't from the bottom because there isn't enough room there for my phone and the picture comes out super blurry. Essentially, on the other side of the handle (the inferior side) there is a linear crack going sideways. I am trying to find an easy DIY fix without having to replace the whole door panel, which it appears is the only real fix as far as I could find out, but I'm not interested in paying several hundred dollars for this at this time.

Anyone been in this situation? What can I do to make the handle 1) hold it nicely together and 2) not look broken?

Thanks so much guys!

Something like this:

 

[Amaster]

It's normal on these. To break like that, what you do break all the brittle plastic pieces out, then just glue it back down. Gm made the front door panels on these stupid should of made them like the rears

 

[OR VietVet]

Or a salvage yard piece.

 

[expredator]

Something like this:

That looks pretty cool and not so difficult either! Will give it a shot on the weekend and report how it went!

 

[expredator]

Ok so late response, so sorry for that! I did it like they did in the video and it turned out really well. I also inserted a short rod into the space prior to putting in the caulk to give it extra strength. After a few days it became very hard, exactly what I wanted.

 

[CTX-SLPR]

Follow up since this is pretty much irreversibly, how's it holding up?

I'm guessing you just peal up as much of the vinyl covering as possible to get the steel rod in there as a reinforcement before squirting it full?

Thanks

 

[mikeyss]

Gm made the front door panels on these stupid should of made them like the rears

They did, from 07 - 09

 

[petethepug]

The early 07-10 design can be swap’d into the later model trucks to cure the early breakage issues on the 11-14 panels.

The simplest method is to purchase a complete 07-10 door from a scrapper and literally swap some of the guts, panel and necessary parts. Done.

The front door panels from early 3 door extra cab trucks are incompatible because they’re wider at the back of the door card.

 

[CTX-SLPR]

I just did my door pulls today with 3M Windoweld. The drivers side still had basically all its plastic inside just with single break in it so I just worked around it and filled the handle up. The passengers side had basically no intact plastic so I put a 1/4in Al rod through it and filled it on up. They’re curing with about 9 zipties holding things tight. Drivers side I did off the vehicle and the passengers side on the vehicle. I think it’s not really any difference in how to work on it if you roll the window down.

I’ll keep an eye out for 07-09 door panels in decent enough shape to bother with as I suspect this is a medium term fix and planning on keeping this thing another 10yrs It’ll not last that long.

 

[ARAMP1]

I think this may be the newest thread on this, but I need to fix my passenger side grab handle.

I see that Dorman makes a replacement driver side, but not passenger side.



Could possibly go with a new panel, but that's a few hundred bucks. The panels themselves are in good shape I just want to fix the door handle pull.

I'm thinking about pulling it apart and maybe 3D printing the support piece.

Anyone have any updated solutions?

 

[mikez71]

Amazon has some kits that do both sides.
If you see the reviews, some are bad (too long) but some look good/ok.

I did the dorman on drivers side. Satisfied, but I still picked up some 07-09 panels.
I paid approx 4 times the price of one dorman handle for 2 door panels. ($75 vs $300)

The 07-09 have the added benefit of being able to reach into the door pocket!

 

[ARAMP1]

I do think I remember some of the years were longer/shorter than others but I don't remember which.

 

[ARAMP1]

Think it may have been the right vs left side here...

Going to pull the trigger and see...

 

[mikez71]

Thanks for that!

So the '10-'14 look longer than '07-'09.
That looks like the difference in the review I saw.

At this rate I doubt dorman will make the passenger side available. Everyone already gets it from amazon.
Maybe they will since they can mark it up 100%.

 

[ARAMP1]

Okay, they arrived and they fit...sort of.

Apparently, there are two kinds of inner panels. Some have a plastic frame and some have a metal frame. I have the metal frame and these appear to be for the plastic frame.

You can see in the picture that my old ones have clips and the new one doesn't. I was able to make it work though...you have to break off all the tabs and you have to re-use the old plastic piece that comes under the pull...the new one won't fit with the metal frame.




Overall, it's definitely worth the $90 I spent on them. They don't have the same grain/texture as stock, but look close enough. If you don't mind tinkering a bit to make them fit, they're much cheaper than replacing the whole panel.