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Getting into the rear doors

47K views 60 replies 38 participants last post by  RVMAN 
#1 ·
I've been here before, but I can't remember the username i used.

Anyways...

I have a '95 Astro with the barn doors, and my outside latch just broke. It's been stiff for the last while, but always worked. Is there any way I can open the first door without cutting out the interior panels or breaking something? There's no inside handle, which sucks. And, the screws for the interior panel are inaccessible with the door closed. Basically all I can do is remove the speaker cover.

Any ideas?
 
#52 ·
Just replaced the rear handle on our 97 Safari. It still worked, but the pot metal handle itself cracked from slamming the door (it takes some force to close it!). Didn't have to take the inside panel off, though -was able to get to everything through the little oblong door on the side.

Anyway, for webcat, the handle mechanism involves one piece sliding across another for the required action to take place. If they don't have good lube that would cause you to need to pull harder. That force would be between the handle and the secondary moving parts. If the rod is hard to pull, something else is going on.

When I got the part at a junkyard, I made 2 observations: 1) the handles seem basically interchangeable from year to year (see below), and 2) lots of handles break!

The differences between the handle I had and the replacement were 1) where the rod fits is a different size hole and capture arrangement - newer has plastic grommet, older has metal clip. Keep the hardware that goes with the handle just in case. The rods are the same, but the holes in the handles are different. 2) the area where one piece slides against another is different. This shouldn't make any difference functionally (at least it did not on ours), and I couldn't say which is a better design. Both look robust, so why the change?

But with a little wheel bearing grease, the replacement worked fine!
 
#53 ·
I had to replace the rear door handle (dutch doors) and the front pass side handle. The rear door was a simple operation, the front pass door was a major PITA!! you have to remove the latch mechanism that clamps on the door frame pin to get to the top bolt on the door handle. Took me quite a while and a few trips to youtube to figure it out.
Sliding door wouldn't open last winter and finally found the bottom roller assembly was frozen in a block of ice inside the cavity. Once I got the ice broke lose, I sprayed the whole thing down with white lithium grease and drilled a hole for the water to drain out. It gets parked facing a slight downhill and I guess the melting snow somehow collects in there and freezes.

Got my door handles off of Amazon. they fit and work great, cheap prices too.
 
#54 ·
I've stopped greasing my slider. It always gunked up with dirt and grit in the grease. Last lube I cleaned it all with brake parts cleaner, then used bicycle chain wax lube. It's alcohol based, not oil. The alcohol evaporates, leaves the slippery wax. When dirt gets imbedded in the wax, the wax falls off. Made for mtn bikes that ride in the desert.

Lump
 
#55 ·
Thanks to this helpful thread, I replaced my rear outside door handle on an '01 Dutch-door model. A few photos / thoughts for posterity.

The metal on the outside door handle had broken in two when I opened it on a cold day last winter. The top bit was still attached to the inside rod/lever. Using a flat-head screwdriver under the last small attached bit, I popped open the rear door.

What I needed: Phillips & Flathead (2) screwdrivers, socket wrench w/ 3" extender and 11/32" head, new rear door handle ( ~$15 at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007TY ... ge_o08_s00 or Manufacturer Part Number ADS2870 / OEM Part Number 15173051).

From there:

- Unscrewed 4 phillips screws covering side panel on door (shown removed)


- Unscrew the 2 11/32" nuts holding on the door handle (top and bottom) from the side-panel you just took off. Pop the lever out of the white clip. Photo shows these steps completed.


- Pry off interior trim using 2 flat-headed screw drivers. Carefully, but you need some force. You're pulling out the clips that are the 3 large holes on the right-hand side here. Hopefully you don't break off too many clips (as seen on the bottom right here.) There's probably a better tool to do this without risking breaking stuff.


- Unscrew the 4 bolts holding on the license plate unit. Turn the license-plate light bulb (wiring at top of photo) to pop it out.


- Pop out the whole license plate unit and door handle. May require pushing around on the handle latching mechanism inside. From there you can pull the handle unit off the license plate unit. Slide in the new handle. Then it is just putting it all back together. Should look something like this (hopefully you've wiped the grease off as I hadn't in this photo) once you get the nuts back on the handle bolts and the lever reattached to the clip.


- Get a beer to drink, while repeatedly opening your rear door again in happiness.
 
#58 ·
Read back from the beginning of this thread (There are a few others on this subject here too). The one with the rigid hook-type tool is my personal favourite as it most closely approximates the special auto-locksmith tool I've used for years on the back doors of these vans.
Of course, it should go without saying, that your rear door handle is toast. Get familiar with changing handles on these vans as it won't be the last time you do this job.
Lastly, it would seem that a "Welcome" is in order to a new member!
-Mike-
 
#60 ·
yes common problem with gm handles. My company supplied van handle broke. I reached in through top of door covering after back seat removed. Then taking out the top right screw, warped the panel enough to fit hand and arm through feeling my way there and releasing the latch then removing the panel the rest of the way and using the access panel held in with 4screws I was able to fix it.
 
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