Interior door handle

[69volunteer 84]

I left the original interior door handles as they were in good shape. I did install new armrests and door panels.

 

When I open the door from the inside, it hits the armrest before it disengages the latch. I have to reach out the window and open the door from the outside.

 

I plan to take off the door panel tonight to (a) cut a hole for my remote mirror and bezel and (b) adjust the door handle.

 

I assume the handle adjusts--any tips or is this pretty straight forward?

[Black Jade 43]

To take up some of the slack, I put some vacuum hose on the part that goes into the door that actually lifts up the mechanism that opens the latch. I have replaced the hose a couple of times over the past 20 yrs.

[THE EVIL TW1N 12]

If you figure it out, let me know by posting your solution here. My interior door handles have the same issues and have taken them apart with no results.

[69volunteer 84]

After looking at it a little closer, there doesnt seem to be much to adjust. The handle conforms to a lever inside the door that then actuates another inside the door which pulls a rod that actuates the door release mech.

 

I havent looked at the mech on the door to see if there is any adjustment there.

 

Options so far appear to be:

 

Remove the rod and shorten.

 

Some how build up the lever that is part of the door handle so that it immediately engages the lever on the inside attached to the door rod (has some play in it now)--similar to BlackJades response above.

 

Add some spacers to the armrest mounts on the door. I think I am close to triggering the mech but not quite.

 

Maybe a combo of 2&3?

[69volunteer 84]

Well I followed Black Jade's advice and put a piece of fuel line on the door handle at the lever inside the door. Tested and it works perfectly. I havent put the door panel back on and may add some silicone inside the fuel hose to add a little more staying power but it is a tight fit.

[danno 128]

I did the same thing 20 years ago, and have not had to replace it yet. It seems to me I used some thick tube from the hardware store.

[THE EVIL TW1N 12]

I'll have to try something similar. Maybe on tuesday or wednesday if I can.

[kirkland 0]

Sorry to bump an old post, but I put a square washer instead of fuel hose in that spot and the handle is nice and tight.  However, when I put the armrest back on, it still won't open from the inside.  Did anyone figure out how to get around this ?

[JayEstes 172]

On mine, there is significant wear on the cast part that extends inside the door to "lift the lever" which actuates the mechanism over by the door latch.  This wear causes a lot of slack, enough that I  could no longer operate the latch without a monster grip strength.

My solution to this was a little different.  rather than do anything to the lever that goes thru the door, I removed the door panel (carefully as always) and then on the lever inside the door, I decided to "build it up" by doing the following:

I had some 1/4 thick 3/4 wide, really durable and heavy duty rubber foam that had some awesome adhesive on one side.  I cut a piece of sheet metal about 3/4in wide and ~3in long.  I then cut a length of the rubber foam and stuck it firmly to the strip of sheet metal.  Then, I bent the sheet metal in half, and folded it over the "lever" inside the door.  I used pliers to "crimp" the foam/metal as tightly as I could to the lever - centered over the location where this lever interfaces to the cast-piece.

This process "builds up" the lever inside the door by at least 1/4in but the interface to the cast piece coming thru the door is still metal, so things can slide without wearing the rubber.  building up the lever, lowers the point at which it interfaces with the cast-piece coming thru the door, and removed all the slack.

This solution has continued to work for long time for me, and seems to be an easy way to build up the lever point to remove slack.  I suppose a similar method might work to "build-up" the cast-piece going thru the door, but the cross section of that is v-shaped, and the lever inside is flat.

If required I could post some pics.  It would require some disassembly, so I'm not going there if maybe these words explain it well enough.

Good luck!

Jay

[JayEstes 172]

19 hours ago, kirkland said:

Sorry to bump an old post, but I put a square washer instead of fuel hose in that spot and the handle is nice and tight.  However, when I put the armrest back on, it still won't open from the inside.  Did anyone figure out how to get around this ?

I can't visualize effective use of a square washer in this scenario.  Pics would help.

[Mike65 475]

Jay, do you have any pics of your repair/mod to the inside handle?.  Does this problem only happen once the door panel & the arm rest are on?.