The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Doors Saggy door handle

How do I fix a saggy door handle on the drivers side of my 50 GMC 100?

fixed mine bought new ones , still sag a little but a major improvement , pair of handles from classic $40 back then

sometimes its the square hole in the latch itself from being worn and a new one won't help it much. Some guys get real inventive and make some type bushing or do like...I believe it was RustyRod(?) who took his handle out, put it in a vice and then heated it with a torch and "twisted" the handle to where it would be right when he reinstalled it!!! For me personally its usually the square hole in latch is worn.

I think I will shave them and put in electric..

Have a look in the gallery, it's a common 'affliction' on these old trucks.
It's a fact that things can get a little droopy when you're nearly 60 years old!

I'll be trying the 'RustyRod' technique when the time comes.

Either that or does anyone know if you can get Viagra in spray form?
A wee spray in the lock mechanism might improve things a little!

The problem seems to lie in the design of the latch mechanism itself.

If you study the mechanism you'll see that the way they are designed puts two flat moving surfaces in contact with each other. All of this contact surface increases friction which overcomes the effect of the spring keeping the handle from returning to it's horizontal position. To compound the problem, the spring appears to of marginal strength lacking adequate force to return the handle to the horizontal under all but the most ideal conditions.

You can buy new springs which just may fix the problem if you have older mechanisms that are worn loose. I have new ones so I've mixed some jewelers rouge with light oil in an attempt to polish the contact surfaces and reduce the friction, but there hasn't been enough time to determine if this helps.

Bottom line... live with the sag, it the nature of the beast.

Has anyone thought about making the handles lighter? I swear they are heavier than my colt!

I just installed my new handles and mechanism and even when I push the end up the spring pushes it down. Looks like just another one of those frustrating issues with new parts. Things like this must not be very important in China.

How do I even access the door handle/spring mechanism?

is this the spring?

pic 1
pic 2

Yes! How did you access that assembly?! I need to replace that spring, just as you did. Many thanks, N

That’s a pic of my original latches. I ended up using new latches and handles. I didn’t replace that spring.

To access the spring if you want to replace them you have to remove the latch from the door.

There are 4 screws that hold it to the door.

remove the 3 screws holding the relay and remove the relay.

Then you'll see the 4 screws that hold the latch to the door.
one is where the relay attaches to the latch

3 screws on the inside sill

You'll have to remove the handles also. You'll see the two screws that hold them on.
Passenger side remove the lock assembly

I had my glass and regulators out of my door at the time, the latch should come out with the glass up.


Good Luck

This was very helpful. Today, I removed and cleaned the latches and replaced the springs. I'll grease 'em up and put them back in the truck tomorrow to see if it worked.

Door-Agra? But REMEMBER, if your handle stays up for more than 4 hours call your mechanic.

It worked! Handles are droopy no more! Yeehaw!

Czechman It's why you go to 52 push-button doors !!

but if the handle stays up longer than four hours is that really a problem? LOL

fixite 7 and Rocket Man, you do realize that this thread is over ten years old!