Stripped door handle splines repair

[Red383]

I gutted the doors on my 65 D200 because the latch mechanisms was froze up/not working properly. The passenger side window and door handles had all the splines stripped off. I ended up buying a parts truck and it too had passenger side door handle splines stripped. So I now had two good drivers side and two passenger side door handle mechanisms with stripped splines. Since I cannot use a driver’s side on the passenger door, I decided to see if I could swap the splined shaft from a driver’s side mechanism to the passenger side.

Here are both sides, mirror images of each other (driver’s side on bottom).

I used a putty knife and screw driver to bend the tabs out that hold It all together.

There are two springs inside, kind of hard to keep in place when taking apart. Pay attention to where the hole is in the shaft for the spring. This is the driver’s side.

Here you can see the hexagon of the shaft the holds it in the arm.

I used a press and socket to push the shaft out of the arm

[Red383]

These are all of the parts after disassembly (This is the passenger side)

Difference between the two sides.

Cleaned up all the parts, ready for reassembly.

I pressed the drive’s side shaft into the passenger side arm. (this is when I realized that I should have paid more attention to where the hole is on the shaft for the spring to catch.

Spring installed on the shaft and the cover installed

Now this was the tricky part, getting the coil spring mounted in there while holding tension on the other spring and holding it down with one hand and taking a picture with the other. Then getting the backing plate installed with the tabs lined up and bent over without the springs popping loose. Whew!

[Red383]

Whole assemble complete next to the other passenger side mechanism. I did put a little grease on the shaft and spring before assembly, but I didn’t go crazy. I might add more before putting it back in the door.

Hope this helps someone out if they are in the same situation as I was.

[PwrWgnDrvr]

Brilliant and excellent!

[hmaynord]

candidate for technical write-ups ?

[Mangra]

Great work around if you have a good original handy. I didn’t so I had an idea I haven’t got to the machinists yet. I was going to have the machinist create a knurled sleeve with a set screw. Then grind the bad knurling off while in the truck with a dremmel grinding stone Put the sleeve over the ground odd piece and put lock tight on it and tighten the set screw. Metal choice?? Probably brass so it wouldn’t mess up the handle
Knurling. The handle metal is very soft and I have 5 or 6 with no knurling in them
The picture is aluminum and that might be a good sleeve metal. Someone could contract with a machine shop make a 100 of them and sell them for a quick fix. I know I’d buy several
Your way is excellent
Robert

[Txas2step]

Great work!