Baby Fat Arky

I hope some of you can help. I have a '92 4x4 DLX. The driver side door handle (outside) is loose. Not the handle itself, the whole piece. When i pull the handle the whole piece lifts away from the door about 1/8 inch on the right hand side of the piece as you stand and look at it. I took off the inside door panel to gain access and noticed two nuts but it is nearly impossible to get my hand in there much less a tool. Once I did, they wouldn't tighten much. Seems like the handle assembly attaches to a couple of door metal tabs which felt like they were bending a bit. This didn't let the nuts snug up the door handle assembly. It is just an irritation, but what am I doing wrong? How do you tighten this thing up so the whole dang thing is not loose? Maybe someone who has removed it to paint knows?

bfa

richf

on my 85 they have a plastic plug that covers up a hole. Remove the plug and you gain access with a extension and maybe a 10mm socket to the nut on the back of the door handle. yours may or may not be setup the same way.

Baby Fat Arky

I am at work now so i can't even look at it. The door handle piece is different from some pictures I have looked at on this site. Most look like just a chrome handle on the door itself. Mine is more of an oblong insert piece with the chrome handle attached. I also said "nuts" in the first post. The unit is held on with screws from the inside. COULD be that the handle was jerked a long time ago and the unit broken away from the screw. Might be why the screw does not do anything. I found a picture on the net of the backside of the handle. The linkage is on that side and close to the door body. If the screw has broken out, when I pull the handle from the outside the linkage may be hitting the inside of the door accounting for it pulling away from the truck an 8th inch or so.

But still can't figure out how to access the screws from the back to release the handle. Dang big hands!!