So, I picked up a '05 DAK quad cab the other day from a private owner. The only real issue that he said he had with the vehicle was that the pin that acts as the hinge on the rear door handle "broke" and that he thought it was because his eldest son was yanking on the handle. So my question is has anyone had to replace this pin? If so where did you get it, and how did you do it? When I called a dealer he acted like he had never heard of such a thing and said I'd have to replace the whole door panel. Any help would be great. Thanks.

 

Aside from a junk yard, dont know much else. Have you take the interior door panel off and had a look at exactly what it is?

 

I haven't taken the door off, but everything works fine. I mean the handle is there, it opens and door when pulled. The only thing thats broke is the pin that passes through the handle keeping it in place and acting as the pivot point. The only issue I'm running into is around here none of them seem to have any '05 nad younger Dakotas that will have the handle I do, I also noticed that the same handle is in Durangos starting in '04 and still no luck. I guess its going to end up being me hitting the jackpot and stopping at a yard at the right time. I just can't wrap my mind around buying a whole new panel just for that pin.

 

Just to close this out I took off the door panel and guess what falls out? The pin and handle spring. Looking at the pin there is a scrape going around and around it like there was something gripping it and everytime the handle was pulled it worked its way farther and farther up out of its place until finally it worked its way all the way up and out. The spring that it passes through fell too and thats why the guy thought it broke. To my relief, free repair. whoo hoo!