Interior door handle on drivers side no longer will open door. Exterior handle and locks work fine. About 186K+ on truck. When you pull on the interior handle its no longer a smooth action. Feels like a lot of tension is on it.

Anyone know how to repair this? There isn't any info in my Chilton's or Haynes books.

 

I fixed this problem on my '95. If you remove the inside door panel, you'll find that the sheet metal where the door handle is bolted to the door has a stress tear in it. When you try to open the door, the metal is flexing and taking up the movement of the handle. The inside door handle is bolted on using a u-nut, and the metal tears right at the corner of the stamped u-nut hole. I removed the bolt from the u-nut, discarded the u-nut, and installed a bolt and nut combination with a large fender washer on the inside of the door structure - when you tighten this up, it will sandwich the torn metal between the washer and the door handle anchor, securing and tightening the whole assembly. You could weld it, but the problem comes from a lack of proper load distribution and opening the driver's door a zillion times. The washer works great!

 

Thanks man. I'll give that a try.

 

What was with ford and all of their stamped parts cracking. If it wasnt doors it was floor pans. How hard is it to make sheet steel?

 

Having a fender washer is key because it is large enough to cover the crack, with a hole the proper size for a 1/4 inch bolt. Ask questions if you come across em.

 

I have the same truck. Fixed the same problem yesterday. I bought the truck from my brother and he had already did the fix Cheggie described. What happened next was that the linkage wore on all the pivot points. You could see the round pivot holes were no longer round and one long hole was wider than it was supposed to be. Luckily my neighbor is a welder and we just welded in more steel and filed it out. I lubed the pretty good this time. If you don't have a neighborly welder you'll probably have to buy a new door handle mechanism.

 

I had the same problem with my truck a month ago. The handle broke off and when I pulled the door panel the sheet metal was torn but someone had already used a fender washer to fix it. the part the handle was attached to was worn at the pivot point so i took it to the Ford dealer and they don't just sell that part alone. I had to replace the entire lock assembly. $125.00 later the door works great. Just a slight pull on the inside handle and the door opens. I just didn't have time to weld the part and redrill it and was booked up the rest of the week. Only took a couple of hours to replace.

 

I have a similar problem I would love to get fixed. The "Cable" that looks like a little brake cable for a bicycle or go-kart is broken. It is the cable that goes from the handle that when you pull it up it pulls the latch inside the door and allows you to open it. Unfortunately you cannot replace just the cable you have to replace the whole thing which is a task I am not willing to take on at this time. So for now I have the door rigged so I can open the door. If anyone has any ideas I would love to hear them.


Jacob

 

A FEW YEARS AGO I HAD TO REPLACE CABLE AND CALLED LOCAL FORD DEALER
THEY TOLD ME SOME $100 + AND YOU HAD TO BUY 2 AS SET.DEALER NOTICED THAT THEY CHANGED PART # AND WHEN HE LOOKED UP INVENTORY UNDER OLD PART # SHOWED DEALER ? IN MICH AHD SEVERAL AND SHOWED AS EA
CALLED DEALER AND THEY SAID COMPUTER SAID RETURN TO FORD ? FRO REPACKAGING FOR SET(SCREW TIME)HE LOOKED AND SAID THEY NEVER RETUNED AND HAD 60 I BOUGHT 4 I THINK I PAYED $18.00 EA. GOOD LUCK
ASK FOR OLD PART# AND HAVE DEALER DO A SEARCH IN SYSTEM

 

Autozone sells just the cable, but it is a "B" to install. The metal on mine has torn and the passengers door is doing the same thing. I still don't get how the metal will cause the issue because it seems like no matter where the handle assembly is mounted, the pull will not change. Guess I'll get it welded, lube it up, and see what happens then.

 

if your cable is broke than you need to replace it but if the inner door handle is broke or sloppy here's what you need to do:

NOTE: if your inner handle is broken you'll need to use a 8mm socket and follow this video:
BUT...chances are very high your handle broke because of the crappy weak sheetmetal and single mounting bolt Ford used that often exhibits itself with a very sloppy inner handle. If this sounds familiar read on:

>> #1) remove door panel & remove those silly bristles that surround the inner door handle. These silly bristles limit how far the inner door handle can be pulled back and if your truck or bronco is older the cable is likely stretched and you'll need to be able to pull the handle a little farther so do yourself a favor and take them out

>> #2) examine the inner door handle mount & pivot plate. If you can move it up & down / back & forth then your sheetmetal that plate is mounted to is probably torn. Take out the mounting bolt with a 11mm socket, remove the mount & pivot plate, and examine the sheet metal behind - if it is torn or cracked then this is your problem (if it isn't torn or cracked check your cable to see if it is broken and replace if necessary)

>> #3) go to your local hardware store and buy two 1.5" fender washers with 1/4" to 5/16" inner hole you will also need to buy two nuts and one extra M6 metric bolt that's about 1/2" long. Pull out the old clip nut in the torn sheetmetal and reassemble with the fender washer and nut on the backside of the original mounting hole. Tighten it down firmly. Then get out your cordless drill with a 1/4" drill bit and drill a second hole through the pivot plate on the other side of the pivot spring in between the locking tab and pivot spring. Drill all the way through that plate and the doors inner sheet metal behind the plate. Make sure your window is rolled up during this process to make this easier and prevent broken glass.

>> #4) mount the second new bolt, fender washer, and nut (with washer on the backside behind sheetmetal) and tighten down.

VOILA!

I did this and the first time it still didn't work which is when I noticed the crappy plastic inner handle flexes so damn much that removing those bristles was necessary. Once I removed the bristles the inner handle could travel back far enough to open the door. Total cost of this repair was under $3 at my local Ace Hardware store. I also recommend replacing the crappy plastic inner handle with an older mid to late 80's Ford truck / Bronco handles that are made of metal instead of plastic as well the next time you hit up your local junkyard / pull-n-save...