How to open broken rear door handle

[Kidhauler]

So you broke the rear door handle and now you can't get in.

This is a step by step for a 89 Safari Sle with the standard barn doors and full plastic trim and panels. It should work on any barn door van. As I have not tried it on a dutch door van I have no idea if it will work or how they even latch.

Step one: Go to the inside of the van and remove the speaker cover from the passenger side door. The cover should just pull off although you might need a slotted screw driver to gently pry the cover loose.

Step two: Unscrew the speaker and gently move it up and out of the way. The speaker on my van had nuts on the back of the screws which made it difficult to unscrew. I used a drill and pushed lightly on the speaker to put tension on nut the speed of the drill helped to get the nut off.

Step three: Reach through the speaker hole and over the licence plate holder in the door untill you feel the rods that lock and unlock the door and open it. You might need to employ a child to reach through hole as its kind of tight. ( my arm wouldn't fit) Once you can feel the rods pull up on one of the rods and the door should open. You can have someone use the key on the outside of the door to lock and unlock the door so you can tell which rod to pull. (you want the non moving one)EDIT: AS POINTED OUT TO ME IN ANOTHER THREAD THEIR IS ALSO A TOP ROD WHICH WILL HAVE TO BE PULLED IF THINGS ARE TOTALLY BUSTED INSIDE. BUT IF THE RODS ARE STILL CONNECTED TOGETHER THEY SHOULD MOVE AS ONE AND THE DOOR SHOULD OPEN. I forgot about the top rod since I didn't pull the rods myself since my arm wouldn't fit far enough into the door.

Step four: when you have the door open remove the door panel from the inside and tie a peice of fishing line around the top of the rod and run it up through the plastic panel so that the next time your handle breaks you only need to pull the string from the inside to open the door.

I hope this helps.

Kevin

[astrosafari]

i think it would be helpful to say which way to go with the rod that doesnt move, its a bit hard to move by hand, but it goes up, and it helps if you push or pull the door to relive pressure on the mechanisms.

[Kidhauler]

If you read the post it does say to pull up on the rod that doesn't move when your helper is playing with the lock. The rod that doesn't move is obviously the opening rod. If the doors are closed all the way their shouldn't be too much pressure on the door catch and the pulling the rod will pop the door open easily.

Also Corey please use a spell check your posts are very difficult to read with all the typos.

Kevin

[astrosafari]

If you read the post it does say to pull up on the rod that doesn't move when your helper is playing with the lock. The rod that doesn't move is obviously the opening rod. If the doors are closed all the way their shouldn't be too much pressure on the door catch and the pulling the rod will pop the door open easily.

Also Corey please use a spell check your posts are very difficult to read with all the typos.

Kevin

oh u wnet and gone to far doin that.... gonna get yourself introuble. i seen what u wrote, i laughed, but thast not funny. i know it wasnt me that put that there because it didnt even make sence hahahalmao

[Mr_Roboto]

Figure I would post a few pics up, for people without the rear speaker like me, you can cut the two bolt heads off the outside handle and remove the handle that way. Since I don't have back panels any more, removal was easy. Figure I'd throw a few pics up.



This is a common fault on the rear door handle. The washer is cast into the piece of pot metal, and the piece of pot metal broke. I drilled the hole, tapped it for a #8 screw and used the washer that was there.



Pic of the rod and clip, to give an idea of what it looks like. These can be a PITA to get off, but even more of a PITA to get on.



This is the access panel, it's held on by phillips screws. The two bolts are 10mm.

[doyoulikeithere]

Thanks for confirming what I figured I was gonna have to do. Thru the speaker.
Perhaps its just the motivation I needed to install a set of good 6x9s.

[Moreforles]

i think it would be helpful to say which way to go with the rod that doesnt move, its a bit hard to move by hand, but it goes up, and it helps if you push or pull the door to relive pressure on the mechanisms.

I think its a good Idea to push or pull on the door before trying to use the handle (before it breaks....) mine used to open much easier when I pushed on the door a little before using the handle.... before the mechanism itself broke and I had to use as a sawsall to cut through the post to get into my back doors.. I have a spare post and release on another door, and will change it when I get the time and a break in the weather.... Bunji cord is holding the rear door shut in the mean time....

has anyone by chance found another source for better handles? (made of steel/aluminum instead of cast pot metal that the original equipment are made from)

[loopie]

Another option is from the outside (if memory serves).
On my '92 barn door, I think I just used a Dremel and cut/"shaved" off the rivet heads that hold the handle on...once you have that off, you have finger access to push/pull on rods to open the door. Part of the repair is replacing that handle, again, if memory serves....so no harm in gouging that handle a bit with the dremel.

[Kidhauler]

That's a how you do a front door. This post is for the rear barn doors which have no interior handle to open the doors. It wouldn't be such a big deal if you could just pull a handle on the inside and open the door. When you tear the rear handle off your doors are stuck closed. It's nice that you posted the front door info but it's in the wrong thread.

[doyoulikeithere]

Holy Thread revival, almost a year since I posted in this thread before, and I dont understand Kidhauler there about front doors?....

Ok, so anyways, I took off the speaker cover and had a look, and decided I had an easier way in mind, and left the speaker alone.
I simply used a drill to drill out the rivet heads as mentioned. Once those 2 screws were drilled and the handle was ripped outta there, I could just pull the rods that opened the door.
While i had the door open to install the new handle, and Before I put the drill away, I also drilled 2 more holes thru the door panel under the window, You'll seee.......Rule 6b.

Then, I welded in a couple of push-rods to make interior lock and opener controls before I put the tools away.

[Kidhauler]

Wow it's been a long time since I read this thread last. I think a post got removed about front doors. I like the rods welded in that was my basic idea just better. I had thought that just using a peice of fishing line sent up with a washer would have made a good emergency opener in the event of the door breaking again.

[jhn98astro]

i've had several of these rear door handles break off and always just had a body shop replace them but this time they wanted $170 to do it so i thought i would buy my own handle and give it a shot myself.

i found that by going inside the van and removing 2 screws along the bottom of the plastic carpeted panel and 3 screws holding the window hinge i could pry the carpeted panel out far enough to reach around and into the door and lift the rod. there is an opening just below the window, towards the center that allows access to the rod. operate the power locking mechanism to determine which rod (of the 3 rods) is not moving, then while pulling the door inward with your right hand, lift the rod with your left hand and the latch should release and the door will open.

thanks to everyone on this forum that gave me the confidence to try this myself!
j

[Rabbit194]

jhn98astro's suggestion is a good one but more details will be helpful. I write regarding barn doors on a '91 Astro. (This is for a US model, with driver's side on the left.) Proceed as follows from the inside of the van, working on the passenger-side rear door:

1) Remove the cover over the jackstand, behind the passenger-side rear wheel, to expose one screw in the molding strip that holds down the edge of the carpet.
2) Unscrew the carpet hold-down molding strip, excepting the last screw under the panel at the far end (driver's side), and pull the strip back out of the way.
3) Unscrew the plate that holds the window in the door shut.
4) Unscrew the two bottom screws and the two bottom-most screws along the edge (near the taillight) in the molding panel that holds the carpet panel in place. (The two along the edge will be hard to get to with the door closed, but it can be done. If it proves too difficult, try to proceed without removing these screws, or maybe only loosen them. They may not anchor the door carpet panel.)
5) Pop out the grill over the speaker in the carpet panel. A broad blade (chisel or putty knife) may be helpful to loosen it.
6) With a small, stiff hook reach behind the molding panel that holds the door carpet panel in place and pull the molding free from the door, along the bottom and up to window level. It may be necessary to lift the floor carpet and the padding under it to pull the molding back far enough for the next step.
7) Behind the molding panel find two screws along the bottom that hold the door carpet panel to the door, and remove them. It may be necessary to lift and lay back the rubber gasket near the bottom outside corner to pull the molding back far enough to get to the screw behind it.
8) Now the carpet panel can be slid free, out from behind the molding, giving full and easy access to the latch mechanism from the inside.