1999 Suburban; Replacing door handle...

I have a problem with a 1999 Suburban, the interior door handle on the drivers door quit working, the only way to open the door was to roll the window down and pull the exterior handle.
The interior door handle eventually broke and I decided to pull the door panel off to see what needed to be replaced. Apparently Chevy never intended for this panel to come off as it is an absolute joke of engineering, this is no easy access to anything and everything is held down with plastic clips that break just by looking at them.
I managed to get the plastic panel off and now I am looking at a steel inner panel that apparently has all the window/door latch components attached to it, this entire panel is then screwed to the door frame itself.

Am I correct in that the only way to gain access to the mounting point of the interior door handle and linkage is to remove the entire steel panel complete with window glass, motor and all rails and hardware?

If anyone has experience with working on these areas or if anyone has any suggestions I'm all ears...

On the lower rod assembly for the handle is there a plastic retaining clip? If so, release this clip and disengage the rod from the handle, then remove the forward retaining bolt and it should come out. See if that works for you. I haven't change the handle on my 99 burb, but I did change one on a neighbors 99 1500 p/u and it was just as I mentioned above. Hope this works for you.

My wife's 99 just had this problem happen. I removed the door panel which was a challenge and found the door handle had fractured at the pivot point where the actuating rod attaches.

I call a local dealer and talked to a service rep who explained the handle/lock mechanism is a one piece unit which is held on by one 3/16 rivet. Drill out the rivet, remove the unit and replace with a new unit available from the dealer. You will need to stop by Sears hardware to get a new rivet.

No need to remove the metal inner panel as I have found out.

Good luck

I just did this about 6 weeks ago. only took about half an hour. By the way you can find the part on ebay for much less than the dealer. I think I paid about $15 plus shipping.

Al