I'm trying out one more cheap option, from this time. Only slightly more expensive but better reviews...let's hope it's not the same exact part with a different brand name on it! Worth a try anyway.

 

A couple of weeks ago I was out of town and my son texted me a picture of unidentifiable truck guts. He didn't get OEM handles for Christmas. He ordered the Dorman handle from Amazon. He said it took less than 20 minutes to change and he's very happy for about $12. He took pictures but they are out of focus so I'll spare you. His handle problem sounds like yours. It wasn't the yellow plastic fitting or the spring, the handle itself was broken. I'm happy he figured out how to do it on his own.

 

Great.

There are two handles on Amazon. One is Dorman, for $20-ish, the other is around $12. It was the $12 one that broke on me the first cold day after installing it. If his is the cheaper one, I hope he has better luck than I did!

 

Well I can say with some certainty that the Dorman handles are exactly the same as the handles I installed before. I guess the extra $8 is for the Dorman sticker on it. All the molded numbers and images matched perfectly on both handles. Well anyway I can open my passenger door from the outside again. I'll just have to be really careful not to pull too hard.

 

My driver side exterior door handle broke on my '91 Toyota. I had a spare '92 Toyota door to salvage one from. Not a bad job. I was hoping I might find a source for a metal door handle.


White plastic shows where the break is, thumb is holding the rest of the piece which is under spring pressure

 

That would be nice. For the price Toyota is asking, theirs ought to be. But oh well. So far my cheap replacement is holding up...

 

And since I know everyone has been waiting on the edge of their seat...

Two years.

That's how long my drivers side handle lasted. Luckily I had a spare in the truck. I think I'm still ahead on price, even being on my 3rd cheap handle, compared to buying OEM. Definitely annoying to keep doing this, though.

I thought maybe the way it opens crooked meant something, but I think it's just that the side that opens farther is the side that isn't contacting the metal lever that actually opens the door...Anyway the new one is in and works great. See you again in early 2023!

 

Ha. My son went through three of those cheap door handles on his '98 Tacoma. I finally paid about $80 for an OEM one from Amazon and it's been on for about a year and a half. I'm not big on buying OEM for 20 year old vehicles but this is one part not to scrimp on.

 

Well, I agree with part of your thinking! There's damn near no part on a quality vehicle that is worth is scrimping on. My truck gets quality parts, and 9 times out of 10 that means OEM. However with this part, it typically gives some warning before completely failing, so there's time to spend another $12 and be good for another couple years.

Typically, my truck gets all OEM. 23 years old and 290,000 miles with almost zero major issues is my justification for why OEM is important. It lasts. But a door handle that I could only find for $130...or the $400 CV joint...well, sometimes I've just gotta go aftermarket.

 

Wow, this time it lasted almost exactly one year to the day. I see my last post on the handle breaking was 2/20/21. It happened again yesterday, 2/21/22. Seems clear that age will cause them to break, but also just the right weather conditions. In this case, lots of days in the 40's and 50's, followed by a bunch of snow at around 32 degrees (F), then overnight temp drop to sub-zero. Went out to scrape snow off my truck, tried the handle once and it snapped in my hand.

This is when it typically happens. Cold and snow, and about the last kind of weather you want to have to be going in through the passenger door. This time I spent the $90 on a new handle from Toyota. With any luck, that's the last you'll hear from me on this saga...