suburban door handles

[bohutch]

Hello,
I have a 99 suburban and have replaced the drivers and passengers inside door handles both in the last year. Now the passengers side is broken again. They are like $25 a pop at my local dealer. Anyone else have this problem? Thanks

[Alice]

Replaced the passenger side handle the once. Have a 95, wonder if yours is the same. Girlfriend with same year Chev, but not a suburban, had to replace hers twice over. Your not alone, dont blame the kids.

[back2life]

face it our handles r just cheap!

[bohutch]

Originally Posted by bohutch

Hello,
I have a 99 suburban and have replaced the drivers and passengers inside door handles both in the last year. Now the passengers side is broken again. They are like $25 a pop at my local dealer. Anyone else have this problem? Thanks

Hi Alice,
the handle is really easy to replace you drill out a 3/16" pop rivit near the top of the door handle assembly and slide the whole unit forward about 3/8". I guess after the first two went bad I thought I had probably replaced all the stock ones (up front). I own a machine shop and can fix lots of stuff but not these, they are cheap anyway. The first one was about $22 the last one about $34 (from the dealer).
Take care
Bohutch

[burban boi]

i have a 95' burb i dont have problems with the handles the only problem is they arent black anymore so i put tire shine on them and makes them look new for 2 weeks.

[back2life]

there is a bumper and trim paint that will make it last forever! get it at any auto parts store

[benlasher]

What happens when your Suburban inside door handle "breaks"? I have a '99 and the inside door handle has progressively gotten worse as far as opening the door latch. Now I pull the handle all the way out and it barely opens the door.

Is it about to break? Do I replace the inside door handle assembly, or does it sound more like a cable or linkage problem?

[back2life]

it s a big possibility its about to break not really sure if its a cable or a linkage in there, might want to tear the door down and investigate the actuation of the handle. the problem can be anywhere

[gregory914]

My 97 Burb drivers door handle broke about a year ago, drove with it busted for a couple months, what a pain! Found an aftermarket one online for $16.00 and took 10 minutes to fix. It took me longer to figure out how to get the door panel off than it did to actualy replace the part. You take the trim piece off around the handle, the srews by the armrest, the little cover by the mirror and then just pull the door panel off starting at the bottom and away you go, drill out the rivet, install the new handle with a rivet, and put the panel back on .
They break because they are cheap pot metal which means, once it starts to crack ...it's gone.

[benlasher]

I need a lock actuator as well, and will do this at the same time. Dealer says $90 for the acuater, on-line (A1 I think) says $29. Any benefit to paying the $90, other than the fact I can get it now.

[gregory914]

None that I can tell, A1 is where I got my handle for $16 a year ago and it's still working fine.

[CalessaSSracer]

argggggghhhh my front passengers just broke!!!!!!

[greg0163]

Originally Posted by gregory914

My 97 Burb drivers door handle broke about a year ago, drove with it busted for a couple months, what a pain! Found an aftermarket one online for $16.00 and took 10 minutes to fix. It took me longer to figure out how to get the door panel off than it did to actualy replace the part. You take the trim piece off around the handle, the srews by the armrest, the little cover by the mirror and then just pull the door panel off starting at the bottom and away you go, drill out the rivet, install the new handle with a rivet, and put the panel back on .
They break because they are cheap pot metal which means, once it starts to crack ...it's gone.

Hoping that gregory914 can help in regard to - "take the trim piece off around the handle" - how in the world does it come off? I'm afraid the things going to break if I try to hard. Any details on how to get that trim piece off?