I'm stripping my truck down to get ready to paint, and I've gotten almost everything off except the exterior door handles. I can see the plastic clip and the metal rod, but I'm not sure how to separate the two?

As you can see in the first pic I unsnapped the clip from the rod in one place and rotated it upwards.



However I can't seem to get the rod off the clip because there is a round bulge at the tip of the rod that prevents it from coming off.



Any suggestions would be appreciated, I'm really trying to make sure I don't break this clip!

 

they should just pop off thats how mine did take a screwdriver and put it in between the rod and wiggle it should pop right off. just my .02

 

Pop it off with a screw driver, very easy.

 

Ok thanks, I'm still not sure what I am supposed to do, pop the clip completely off the rod, or spread the end of the clip and push the rod back out of the metal tab?

I don't see how I can pop the clip off because it goes through the hole and it clips around the rod in opposite directions on each side of the metal tab.

 

Once you've un-clipped the rod, and moved teh plastic clip out of the way (like you've done), insert a flat head screwdriver in between the rod, and the metal bracket it's goin through, and pry. The rod will pop out, leaving the plastic clip still in the door handle.

 

Thanks, just what I needed. That's what I thought I was supposed to do but wanted to make sure before I started prying on it.