Reactivating the rear door handles

[YourCoWorker]

I just did mine in 1 hour. It was so easy that I can tell you how I did it without any pictures necessary.

First off, the entire power lock mechanism was intact. No need to go through this process: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

I found the two connecting rods in the trunk. Initially, I though I might have to take the entire door apart because the ends of the rods are designed to slip into plastic grommets on the exterior latch side and interior latch side. Impossible to do without drilling out large rivets and dismantling the whole thing due to one extra bend on each end of the rods, except...

...I noticed that if the last bend was removed from the rods, then they would slip in place. This method would allow me to simply pop the rods into the plastic grommets.

Well, I used an arbor press to straighten out the rod ends. Next I drilled small holes in the newly straightened part. Then, once popped into place, I just put a cotter pin through the holes and bent it into place.

It was tremendously simple. So before you go dismantling everything, confirm that all you need to do is install the rods, and proceed with confidence.

[JB13]

great news I have to get a pair of the rods Mine are MIA .Glad to know it is a easy fix thank you for the post

[Chief291]

Taking the latch out was not a problem. I disconnected the rod from the electric plunger instead of taking that out. I also used self-locking nuts and bolts instead of rivets. Works fine.

[Bigvin]

^^^ you're farely close, do ya feel like hookin a brutha up?

[ljohn221]

i purchased the rods but some pictures of this method would be greatly appreciated if anyone has them! Thanks!