Am so fed up with this job that im about to drive this thing off a highway overpass.

Project seems simple enough, inside door handle stopped working because it was overextending due to the metal tearing. Solution? Giant gender washer, that part is done. However the cable is also tearing so I figured I would replace that as well. I have the door lock, and the latch mechanism itself loose. But I can't get the whole thing out because of the power lock doohickey at the very bottom. It is riveted to the door (or the "saddle" is anyway. I managed to get it out of the saddle. And now that it's time to get everything back together I can't remember which set of "tabs" pop into the saddle. On the bracket itself there are one set of holes for the tabs to pop into but on the power lock actuator there are three different sets of tabs (little round raised areas that hold it to the bracket) any help is much appreciated. And if you value my presence on this forum at all you will make haste because if I have to drive around with my door panel off and the door bungee corded shut ONE MORE TRIP then that trip is going to be to the scrap yard!

 

Also does anybody know how to open a door when nothing is hooked up or in place except for the latch itself? I had it screwed back in so I could see how everything lined up with the actuator in the first set of tabs, and the wind blew my door shut when I went inside to grab another beer. So needless to say, I went BACK inside and just grabbed the whole 12 pack.

 

now now,,don`t get hasty,, You should be able to reach up to the latch and flip the leaver that hooks to the cable going to the inside door handle. I would use the middle set of tabs on the actuator. But first,,sit down and pop the tops on a couple of those 12,s .. Or burn a fatty ! way more calming ! lol

 

I managed to finagle the door open with a pair of pliers while sprawled across my passenger seat. And I also managed to kill 7 or 8 more out of that 12. But anyway.

Okay, middle set of tabs. Hopefully that's it because it is a PAIN to get that actuator out of that bracket. And thankfully an old friend of mine stopped over because she thought her motor was blowing up. Turned out the be an idler pulley with 3 bearings left in it rattling around, $15 and 20 minutes of time that was good to go, but more importantly it gave me some time to cool down a bit. In still beyond frustrated with my truck.

I have the handle reinforced and when I bolt everything back in the cable doesn't retract very far. The handle pulls it out all the way but when the handle is released the cable only goes back maybe a third of the way. I think the cable is still good though, could this be the latch itself? Or maybe a weak spring in the latch mechanism?

 

Are you checking that after shutting the door? Maybe when the latch closes it tightens the cable-just a thought.

 

Yes, I push the latch up into the "closed door" position and it won't disengage it. I don't actually shut the door because then it takes an hour of laying across the passenger seat in a 150 degree vehicle to get it open again lol

 

I don't think this is any help, but just in case this is what the pieces look like out of the truck. Wondering if maybe you need a new cable.

 

I ended up taking the window track loose and yanking the whole damn assembly out of there. It turns out the spring that is supposed to pull the cable back after you release the door handle was really stretched out and on the brink of snapping. I replaced it with a hefty stainless one that I had laying around from God knows what. Works like a charm.

On another note, my little lock button in the door doesn't come up quite as far, it locks and unlocks the door, but could that be from putting that actuator down one tab too far?

 

If it locks and unlocks the door, leave it alone. Door button height can be adjusted by just unscrewing the **** a little.

 

After the headache I went through with it I didn't plan on touching it, I was just wondering.