Quick and Easy Fix for Exterior Door Handles

[jmader]

I'm restoring a 1967 GMC and decided to have my exterior door handles re chromed. The problem with these door handles is that it's impossible to disassemble them without breaking the tabs that hold the plunger in place. I came up with a cheap solution that j wanted to share because these break a lot also and this is a cheap alternative to buying new handles. I picked up a piece of 1 inch aluminum tubing from Menards for a few dollars.


I cut a 1 1/4 inch chunk off of it then cut that piece down the middle.



Then I drilled a hole for the plunger and fit the piece inside the door handle. The opening is tapered a little bit so you have to grind one end to get it to fit properly. I put the plunger back in the door handle followed by the spring then used some aluminum rivets to hold the whole thing in place.




There you have it. Just a few dollars and about 15 minutes and your door handle is better than new.

[Ol Blue K20]

That's pretty slick. Thanks for sharing the idea.

[midniteblues]

Nice job its well done an should last.
I could've used this fix 2 months ago on a 71. Instead I used a 67 handle on it. Witch is something I didn't wanna do.

Its these kinda threads that makes this board so great.

Thanks for sharing

[tk1251k]

Nice innovation and great pics.Thnaks

[Hart_Rod]

Nice job!

[Boog]

That's good thinking and looks like it will hold up for a long time too.

[kehstr]

The best thing about the way the door handles work on these trucks, is if it does happen to brake, you can still open the door without the button, I've done it a few times, just being to lazy to change the handle.

[skarweb]

Thanks for this solution. Another quick solution (when still having the square plates) can be done by two electric wires (cupper 2.5mm).

[n33k0]

I'm gonna try this, the plunger on my passenger door fell apart recently. Thanks for the info!

[huntznsam]

Thank you! The PS handle on our 72 popped apart this week. Using your idea, we just bent up a piece of 14ga steel since that's what we had, and use #8 flat head sheet metal screws, countersinking the handle. Installed no problem, works great.
Appreciate the great advice,
HuntzNSam

[bill3rail]

Hope to never need this, but if I do...

[Fbks_Cruiser]

Excellent Idea. I have a couple broken handles I've been thinking of rebuilding and was thinking of bending something up and doing something similar. I like just cutting some square tubing better.

[Orange67]

Awesome innovation. Thank you!

[HIGHWAY BY THE SEA]

Can the rivets be substituted with self-tapping screws?

[notsolo]

I think that would work, but....clearance in the handle opening may be a problem getting the handle back thru sheet metal.

[hugger6933]

I have two handles in service right now with the wire like in the above post and it works fine.