Exterior door handle swap, WTF? (1 Viewer)

[TwoLeftThumbs]

Got a set of black exterior door handles for the 60 from Jason over at Trail Tailor. They’re labeled as FJ60 ‘80-‘90 and from what I see elsewhere online they are supposed to fit. However the little actuator on the back with the new ones has a plastic piece that’s supposed to clip a rod into in order to open the door.

Mine, of course are different. They have a little hawk bill piece on them that pushes down on another lever.

Am I missing something? Photos in link of my setup.

3 new items by Ryan Romero

photos.app.goo.gl

 

[3_puppies]

Jason is usually on the forum, he may check in

@TRAIL TAILOR l

 

[TwoLeftThumbs]

Jason is usually on the forum, he may check in

@TRAIL TAILOR l

I shot him an email too. Figured having more peeps on the case might mean I get it done today.

 

[88red]

Front has the rod connection, rears have the direct lever connection.

 

[TwoLeftThumbs]

Front has the rod connection, rears have the direct lever connection.

But all the handles I’ve found (including these) say they work on both front and rear. I don’t see any adapters to make these function for the lever option, though it sure seems like a simple bolt on arm up top could work. Is there a way to reuse the hawk bill looking piece on the stock handle that I’m not seeing?

 

[ProwlerDriver]

Yeah front and rears are different. One bolts up the other needs an extension. I ended up powder coating my oem ones as fabbing the front fit would probably be way too much.

 

[DickM]

I have a set in a box on the workbench, and will take a look this week and report back. Hopefully, there is a "not to painful solution" that will appear, although it sounds like it may be a long shot at this point.

Are your pics front or back doors?

 

[TwoLeftThumbs]

I have a set in a box on the workbench, and will take a look this week and report back. Hopefully, there is a "not to painful solution" that will appear, although it sounds like it may be a long shot at this point.

Appreciate it! I can't understand why everyone would list them as fitting both front and rear if they fit but don't WORK in the rear.

I fiddled with it for a moment and it sure looks like there's got to be a simple way to mount that hawkbill on the new one but I have like 100 other things to do before our Big Bend trip this week and handles are low priority.

 

[Graniteone]

I ll be following this thread as I would like to do the same thing.

 

[TwoLeftThumbs]

Word. I'll post on here if I hear via email to keep everyone informed.

 

[gbogh]

Is the hawk bill held on by that bolt?

 

[TwoLeftThumbs]

Is the hawk bill held on by that bolt?

Yes, it's a smaller hole but the pin basically holds it against he lever on the handle. I tried to orient it the same way on the new handle, but it doesn't quite work.

 

[DickM]

After playing around with the rear door handle, the short answer is that the replacement handles can be made to work by re-bolting the "hawk bill" from the OEM handle onto the aftermarket handle. This requires a new bolt/washer/lock washer/nut setup as the OEM arm is threaded to receive the hawk bill mounting bolt, and the aftermarket is not.

The long answer is that while it works fine(at least in the short term), the new install is not as elegant as Mr. T's original setup.
The hawk bill ends up not sitting on the strike actuator lever as in the OEM install, as the OEM arm is longer than the one on the aftermarket handle. And the hawk bill is not "indexed" into a recess on the aftermarket handle as it is on the OEM one. This requires the pressure of the new bolt and nut setup to keep the hawk bill from moving as the rotational force from the handle is applied. Should be OK, but not the way it was designed.

OEM front and rear door handle assemblies all have a different part numbers, so they are different from front to back, and side to side. Aftermarket are all the same.

OEM install

Aftermarket install

Note that while you can rotate the hawkbill to bring it closer to the actuator, doing so reduces the radius "reach" of the contact point and you have a "swing and a miss". So the final orientation of the hawk bill install is a bit of a pain as you have to find the perfect trade off between reach and how far the hawk bill pushes the actuator..... hence the distance between the hawk bill and actuator at install position.

Comparison of the two handles

Final product

 

[TwoLeftThumbs]

This forum is full of heroes. Thanks, @DickM !

Yeah, this was my concern. Just fiddling around with it for the 20 min or so and looking at how to attach it to the aftermarket arm this was exactly what I feared would be the case. I have two thoughts...

1) Could we fab a new hawkbill that's longer and possibly has a secondary hole for a super small nut/bolt combo to prevent it from turning under the rotational force? Alternatively, we could simply design a new longer one with an angled piece that rests on the aftermarket arm appropriately to prevent the same turning action, right?

2) We could drill a small hole in the receiving lever, stick a threaded rod through it with a nut on either side and bend it appropriately to the new, aftermarket receiver arm...hell, possibly even to fit the plastic piece designed for the front door. You think?


Unrelated question, are those Trail-Tailor sliders? And might I see a couple more snaps of them?

 

[Spook50]

I hadn't gotten around to pulling apart my rear doors to install the new handles, so this hadn't occurred to me. Looks like a custom cut and shaped hawkbill from some 1/8" stock would be the most simple solution. Then paint or powder coat for corrosion protection.

I see a new Wit's End or Trail Tailor product in the near future

 

[DickM]

Unrelated question, are those Trail-Tailor sliders? And might I see a couple more snaps of them?

 

[ProwlerDriver]

I have 4 extra of these door handles for sale! now that someone has figured out how to make them work up front I can sell them as a set! Nice Job

 

[TwoLeftThumbs]

I have 4 extra of these door handles for sale! now that someone has figured out how to make them work up front I can sell them as a set! Nice Job

Give us a minute to design that new hawkbill and to stick it up for sale too!

 

[Jake FJ60]

Here's a question - What if you're door handle breaks and you can't open the door (even from the inside?) How do you get to the guts of the mechanism if you can't access the door panel because it's shut?

FJ60 '83

 

[Godwin]

Here's a question - What if you're door handle breaks and you can't open the door (even from the inside?) How do you get to the guts of the mechanism if you can't access the door panel because it's shut?

FJ60 '83

Had this happen on a front door and as I remember I had to rip open the door card to access the mechanism inside the door to open the door.