The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Door Handles on a '50

The door handle on the drivers side has never worked and hangs down. I took all of the screws out according to the manual but still can't get it out. Is there a trick? There's not a whole lot of room inside the door cavity to get a good view. The handle comes out about 3/4 of an inch and I can see some sort of a locking collar that would activate the latch. Did a quick search here to see if this has come up before but didn't find specific help. :confused:

Yes there's a trick. The handles on both my trucks are still ok so I haven't had to do the replacement yet. From what I gather there's a little spring in there that has broken. It's available from most suppliers and apparently very easy to replace.

I bought one of those spings from a suppplier I will leave unnamed. Advertisment claimed this spring would restore sagging handles. You could not install it because the gage of the spring was to thick.

There are two pieces of metal inside the hole where the square shank of the handle fits into.Once the square shank gets the corners rounded off, it works less and less untill it spins completely.
. The twy pieces of methal the handle shank fits into can get a little twisted so their square holes do not line up with each other and the square shank on the handle.with a little oil and working on the handle a little(sometimes very little) up and down while gently pulling, you can get the good part of the handle shank to loine up with one then the other square holes that the square shank fits through.These two pieces inside are right next to each other so it will only move a little outward before they line up and the handle can come out.
there may be some rust build-up on the inner part of the shank causing it to come out hard as well.It will work loose with persistence

I had the same trouble as Grant with the spring. Grant sorry I missed you at wendell this year. I was there sunday. I was disapointed to here the pot holes (water fallS) are closed.

Bringing this back to the top. I had given up on the handle until this last week. I've been applying generous portions of penetrating oil on the square end of the handle where it connects with the latch. I got a small mirror and flashlight so I could get a view of the inside. The handle will not budge. At one point I heard something that sounded like the spring letting go but found it was still attached. I took a hammer and punch and tried to persuade it, no luck. Didn't want the door to swing in the breeze so I put it all back together. Now I find that the handle will open the door but you have to continue a full 360 counterclockwise so the handle will return to its proper place. Can anyone tell me what the purpose of the collar and spring setup is for? It is located just on the inside of the handle on the shaft. :confused: