The driver side exterior door handle on my 71 has failed. Over the past couple of months, it had become necessary to squeeze harder and harder to activate the handle and open the door. Now it doesn't work no matter how hard I squeeze. Inside handle works normally, so I think the problem is in the exterior handle assembly or linkage.
Any idea which parts I need to replace so I can have them in hand before I start disassembly?

 

i haven't experienced this in my vette yet, but it has happened to me in a camaro i had. what failed was a plastic clip that holds the linkage onto the the handle portion of the latch. dumbest thing too, because i had the same problem that it kept getting harder and harder to open until it finally broke and then i want to the parts house and the repair part was only like $1.99. not saying that's it for sure, but it's the first thing i would check.

 

Will,
You might have only popped off the clip on the handle rod. Get a couple to keep around. The handle,if not GM, could also be the problem. The GM ones last a while but also wear out on the hinge pin.Most times the latch is dirty. I would get the clip, remove the door panel, remove the latch and then the handle. Clean up the latch with brake cleaner and lube with white grease,use a new clip and adjust it.
Gary

 

just spent a week inside my door , does it have pressure when you push or does it basically fall , does it bind half way down? I hope your hands are small , or you better start being nice to your little sister , you're going to need her to get to the door handle :smash:

 

The outet "flap" goes down with a uniform resistance and bottoms out without activating the internal mechanism that unlatches the door.

 

I am currently going through this with my 'vette.

You need lots of patience, and need good control and coordination of a limber set of hands, wether they be your hands or a helper's. Some of these things are difficult to get to.

Make sure you have your battery unplugged and your door window rolled up.

Step one is to remove your door latch assembly and your outer door handle. Take the latch assembly and clean it up. I used a parts washer followed by a grease-down with white lithium grease.

Step two is to determine if the outer door handle needs replacing. Check the underneath side of the handle and inspect the mechanism. If you see any cracks, get a new one, as the pin that holds the actuator to the case will fall out with excessive cracking. Also check the small spring that fits on that same pin.

Go to a vette parts vendor and get an inner door handle rod, 2 handle rod clips, and 2 of the other clips (I forget what the others are called). Others may see this as un-necessary, but its not fun working inside the door, replace the things that can break or wear out... like the clips. I think you should replace the rod just in case your original rod has bent or is bending during use of the handle. In case I haven't said it... replace the clips!!!

When you put the handle back in the car, you will want to have the rod assembly attached to the actuator on the bottom of the handle. Let the rod dangle inside the door as you carefully snake the door latch back in the door via the access panel on the bottom middle of the door. After you have the latch in place, start re-attaching the different clips and rods, and you should be good to go.

It is a good idea to test out the door latch after assembly without shutting the door first!!!!! I did this by manually closing the latch and pulling the inner handle just to make sure the latch opened back up. Try the outer handle too. It is also a good idea to check to make sure your door lock works correctly.

Before you put everything back on the door, now would be an excellent time to make sure your window assembly works well, and a few final squirts and dobs of lithium grease get on the door latch assembly.

Remember that ugly clear plastic piece you ripped off the underside of the inner door panel? Replace it with some plastic drop cloth and some type of adhesive.

Button everything back up, and you should be in good shape. :cheers:

 

I have replaced several of these over the years. The design is not the best. What usually happens is the linkage at the handle wears the hole bigger and the rod finally slips through when you squeeze the handle instead of operating the latch. Cleaning and lubing everthing may help but it will not be long before you will have to replace the handle assembly. The geometry of the design creates stress at that point. I have tried to fix them with little luck. I also found that the import (cheap) replacements are not very good. They don't fit right AND they wear out very fast. They are a real PIA the replace so I would just spend the money on a good GM replacement.

 

I had this problem on my old 77 a couple of Yrs back. where the rod connects to the handle assembly? the slot in the handle had broken and the door would not open from the outside , worked fine from the inside. but I couldnt know what the real problem was until I had a look inside the door.I purchased a new handle assembly and there is 2 bolts. 1 under the front and 1 under the back of the handle assembly that hold it in place. and yes there a real bugger to get at. good luck hope its just the pin that holds the rod in place on Yrs....... (by the way the night mine broke? , I was on a date and in a suit,not much fun climbing across the console :eek: )

 

Just redid these on my 71. Its probably best just to remove the latch as stated above, it will give you a little more room to work. Its was more a PITA to get my door panels back on that fixing the door handle!

The used aftermarket door handles though. They worked fine and are much more reasonably priced.