ab_slack
New member
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2011
- Messages
- 526
- Reaction score
- 2
- Points
- 0
- Location
- New Joisey
- Vehicle Year
- 1987
- Vehicle
- Ford
- Engine Size
- 2.9L
I initially had a problem where the latch handle was turning and only intermittently would unlock the glass and never the main latch.
This B2 came to me with this problem and hadn't investigated it when it further broke in a way where the handle was pulling an inch or two out of the hole and seemed to have no function at all.
So I finally got around to digging into it and found both the initial and most recent symptoms were not an uncommon occurrence. I found this repair note:
http://www.broncoiicorral.com/library/liftgate_latch_repair.htm
This looked like it may have been great for the initial problem, but doesn't address the problem where the handle pulls out an inch or two.
All I could find was that the handle had to be replaced.
I wasn't having luck finding a new handle. Found a listing for one according to description but without picture I just wasn't sure.
So I was looking at salvage yard.
Before I got that far I decided to pull the latch handle and see if I could figure out what could be done.
What I found was that the handle mount had broke. Not just broke, but had been worn down so much that the part holding the handle shaft could be pulled thru the handle mount. I figured adding a piece of aluminum to bridge what was missing that it should be possible to make a repair by doing some welding.
I neither have the tools or skill to do that with aluminum. So I looked at what I could do and I was able to make a functional fix with less than $1 in parts from my local hardware store. Performing my fix plus the fix in the link above solved al the problems. It now works great for both the glass and gate.
The only down side to the fix is the spring return no longer functions. I find however that between the gate and window actions the handle pretty much stays pretty close to where it would be if the spring return was functioning.
My question. Is it worth documenting this fix? For all I know there are other or the identical fix that has already been documented.
I took pictures of it before I did anything for reference. I wasn't certain it would work so wasn't thinking about documenting what I did. So I would have to pull the fixed handle out again to show what I did. But if this would help anyone I wouldn't mind doing. I just don't see much point duplicating something someone has done or may be a better fix than what I did.
This B2 came to me with this problem and hadn't investigated it when it further broke in a way where the handle was pulling an inch or two out of the hole and seemed to have no function at all.
So I finally got around to digging into it and found both the initial and most recent symptoms were not an uncommon occurrence. I found this repair note:
http://www.broncoiicorral.com/library/liftgate_latch_repair.htm
This looked like it may have been great for the initial problem, but doesn't address the problem where the handle pulls out an inch or two.
All I could find was that the handle had to be replaced.
I wasn't having luck finding a new handle. Found a listing for one according to description but without picture I just wasn't sure.
So I was looking at salvage yard.
Before I got that far I decided to pull the latch handle and see if I could figure out what could be done.
What I found was that the handle mount had broke. Not just broke, but had been worn down so much that the part holding the handle shaft could be pulled thru the handle mount. I figured adding a piece of aluminum to bridge what was missing that it should be possible to make a repair by doing some welding.
I neither have the tools or skill to do that with aluminum. So I looked at what I could do and I was able to make a functional fix with less than $1 in parts from my local hardware store. Performing my fix plus the fix in the link above solved al the problems. It now works great for both the glass and gate.
The only down side to the fix is the spring return no longer functions. I find however that between the gate and window actions the handle pretty much stays pretty close to where it would be if the spring return was functioning.
My question. Is it worth documenting this fix? For all I know there are other or the identical fix that has already been documented.
I took pictures of it before I did anything for reference. I wasn't certain it would work so wasn't thinking about documenting what I did. So I would have to pull the fixed handle out again to show what I did. But if this would help anyone I wouldn't mind doing. I just don't see much point duplicating something someone has done or may be a better fix than what I did.