Heavy handed handle handling HHR horrors.
Discussion
Ever since I got my Rover 45, the driver's door has the "They all do that" signs of abuse in previous ownership..
The bolt location nearest the Key Hole is certainly damaged.
I have seen impatient neighbours on very frosty mornings one foot on the car pulling the door handles to open their frozen solid doors. When that didn't work some boiling water did the trick and broke the glass!
It's not the lock that is frozen. It's about four metres of frozen solid door seals surrounding the whole of the door aperture and will not be easily released simply by pulling on the door handle. I have seen metal handles snapped off that way and fragile plastic ones would have no chance at all.
Anyway, its annoying and I decided to fix it. I had already removed a couple of these plastic handles on previous scrap yard visits and although both had no sign of such damage, the little bolts after years of exposure to the elements had corroded in their metal locations. Even with careful use of my 10mm hex-socket, I could tell the corrosion was holding fast on the bolts nearest the keyhole and were simply rotating. I got them out and decided to repair them using a stiff glass fibre support all around the damaged plastic location. Like this pre-repair damage :~
The repair with a small dollop of strong mix fibre glass carefully around the broken location will hold the threaded bolt ferrule securely :~
The spare handle was a dark grey colour so I stripped out all the moving door handle components, rubbed down the paint and sprayed it with some matching red paint left over from the rear bumper repair on this car. Pleased with the resulting finish of the "here's one I made earlier" job ...
Left the paint to fully dry overnight and reassemble the handle assembly next day. I put a little LM grease in the bolt locations :~
Right, remove the door card with the window glass fully up in the closed position. Two large screws in the armrest-door handle, a small plastic plug and screw near the little tweeter in the door at the top front, plus the small screw which secures the internal door pull lock release in the door card. I used a metal lever designed to release door card fasteners and with a quick lift upwards, the card was removed with the electric window switch still connected. That was soon released and the card put away safely.
With the door card removed access to the two 10mm Bolts was easy. I used my 10mm 1/4" socket drive to undo the bolt nearest the key hole. That tool would not access the other 10mm bolt head as the bottom edge of the window glass is in the way. A good quality shallow offset ring spanner soon had that bolt released and removed with its ferrule intact. The damaged ferrule location of the bolt nearest the key hole simply rotated. A careful pull on the lock had it released showing the ferrule still around that corroded bolt. I gave that bolt a quick spray of 3 in 1 penetrating spray :~
That was dealt with using a pair of pliers to stop the ferrule rotating and the bolt was soon removed with the ferrule.
Using needle nosed pliers, this is how I removed the spring clip which secures the actual key lock within the handle so that could be withdrawn from the body of the handle :~
Now the handle is simply held by one threaded rod. That handle now needs to be rotated and unwound carefully until it can be removed :~
Closer view after several unwindings .. nearly off ...
Couple more rotations and the old handle was free :~
Then refitted the one I made earlier and replaced the door card. This image shows the final result and what a good colour match the paint is! No more sloppy door handles. smoother than when new. It's the little things that make all the difference :~
This is the damaged original. Easy repair fix with a blob of strong fibre glass. Might come in handy one day ...
...
The bolt location nearest the Key Hole is certainly damaged.
I have seen impatient neighbours on very frosty mornings one foot on the car pulling the door handles to open their frozen solid doors. When that didn't work some boiling water did the trick and broke the glass!
It's not the lock that is frozen. It's about four metres of frozen solid door seals surrounding the whole of the door aperture and will not be easily released simply by pulling on the door handle. I have seen metal handles snapped off that way and fragile plastic ones would have no chance at all.
Anyway, its annoying and I decided to fix it. I had already removed a couple of these plastic handles on previous scrap yard visits and although both had no sign of such damage, the little bolts after years of exposure to the elements had corroded in their metal locations. Even with careful use of my 10mm hex-socket, I could tell the corrosion was holding fast on the bolts nearest the keyhole and were simply rotating. I got them out and decided to repair them using a stiff glass fibre support all around the damaged plastic location. Like this pre-repair damage :~
The repair with a small dollop of strong mix fibre glass carefully around the broken location will hold the threaded bolt ferrule securely :~
The spare handle was a dark grey colour so I stripped out all the moving door handle components, rubbed down the paint and sprayed it with some matching red paint left over from the rear bumper repair on this car. Pleased with the resulting finish of the "here's one I made earlier" job ...
Left the paint to fully dry overnight and reassemble the handle assembly next day. I put a little LM grease in the bolt locations :~
Right, remove the door card with the window glass fully up in the closed position. Two large screws in the armrest-door handle, a small plastic plug and screw near the little tweeter in the door at the top front, plus the small screw which secures the internal door pull lock release in the door card. I used a metal lever designed to release door card fasteners and with a quick lift upwards, the card was removed with the electric window switch still connected. That was soon released and the card put away safely.
With the door card removed access to the two 10mm Bolts was easy. I used my 10mm 1/4" socket drive to undo the bolt nearest the key hole. That tool would not access the other 10mm bolt head as the bottom edge of the window glass is in the way. A good quality shallow offset ring spanner soon had that bolt released and removed with its ferrule intact. The damaged ferrule location of the bolt nearest the key hole simply rotated. A careful pull on the lock had it released showing the ferrule still around that corroded bolt. I gave that bolt a quick spray of 3 in 1 penetrating spray :~
That was dealt with using a pair of pliers to stop the ferrule rotating and the bolt was soon removed with the ferrule.
Using needle nosed pliers, this is how I removed the spring clip which secures the actual key lock within the handle so that could be withdrawn from the body of the handle :~
Now the handle is simply held by one threaded rod. That handle now needs to be rotated and unwound carefully until it can be removed :~
Closer view after several unwindings .. nearly off ...
Couple more rotations and the old handle was free :~
Then refitted the one I made earlier and replaced the door card. This image shows the final result and what a good colour match the paint is! No more sloppy door handles. smoother than when new. It's the little things that make all the difference :~
This is the damaged original. Easy repair fix with a blob of strong fibre glass. Might come in handy one day ...
...
Ex X Power said:
.
A job well done,
Done exactly the same on my ZS but used liquid metal instead, I dare say Araldite or anything similar will achieve the same result.
So nice to be able to open the door without pulling off the handle!!
.
yes quite!A job well done,
Done exactly the same on my ZS but used liquid metal instead, I dare say Araldite or anything similar will achieve the same result.
So nice to be able to open the door without pulling off the handle!!
.
Do you believe in Sod's law. I do.
Visited local scrap yard today to source a small part from a Rover 75 for someone in Eastern Europe needing a hard to come by part over there for a 75. Closeby was a tidy Rover 45 where someone had already removed the door card and lowered the window glass giving access to the perfect driver's door handle. So, soon had the glass removed ( two 10mm bolts ) allowing more access and two minutes later, I had the handle removed. Perfect and no wear or damage. Sod's law ...
... could have done with it before tackling the job with the repaired item. Still, this good one will come in handy one day. They always do. Gassing Station | Rover | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff