[Grumpy old man]

They have a very slight single bend in that rod for adjustment , it should be basically straight , Before bending it to make it work did you have to push hard on the door handle button when opening the truck from OUTSIDE? if so your problem could be the latch tension spring is probably broken or worn out look at the picture and check the spring where the tape arrow is pointing also check the latch star rivit to see if it's worn out .