Hello, newbie here.I have 2005 Dakota club cab v6.Nothing fancy with manual locks and manual windows.My question is about the rear doors. They both will not open. I was able to remove the rear door panels and pull on both the upper and lower cables and the door was able to open.When I looked inside the door cavity it looks like the plastic ends of the cable that locked the cable in place at the groove in the metal latch has disintegrated.There is broken plastic on the inside.Now I am thinking that since I can pull the cables and the metal latch opens then I can just replace cables and not the entire metal latch.After hunting parts on the web I only see the cable sold with the latch not by itself.Does anyone know of any brand that sells cables only such as Dorman that may work?It will be 4 cables (an upper and lower cable for each side)Thanks in advance .I have attached a pic of what the cable and latch looks like that I found on the web

 

I've had the same problem with the plastic ends of those cables disintegrating. An easy fix was to use hollow fishing weights that can be crimped closed around the cable (so they can't fall off), but still allow the cable to slide freely inside it, like these on the left:


https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...undblei_01.jpg

One end of the fishing weight butts up against the latch retainer, and the other end butts up against the end of the cable sleeve. I did start to have the problem of the end of the cable sleeve crumbling away too, so I added another weight in its place and then tightly wrapped duct tape around that weight and the new end of the cable sleeve so the cable sleeve end (hopefully) can't crumble away anymore. On the lower door latch, I also added a zip tie around the latch retainer/cable end so that the cable can't slip off the latch when it isn't under tension (I had that problem once or twice too). The design of the top latch seems to prevent that cable end from being able to slip off by default.

 

Erau thanks so much fo the suggestion.I'm not a fishing guy so I would have never thought of this fix.It makes perfect sense.I will attempt this on my week off from work soon..Thanks again

 

Did Dodge ever redesign/upgrade the '05+ Club Cab rear door latch system to make it more durable at some point during the Dakota's lifetime? Or do all years have the same set-up and prone to the surprise failure?

 

Well, I'm guessing that they didn't as my 08 DAK is now experiencing the failure to open because the top latch won't let go. I got a new top latch w/cable (as stated that's the way they come) and a new handle assemble with lower cable. I'm trying to figure out how to get the door open to complete the repair.

 

Check out my thread for the exact same issue. https://dodgeforum.com/forum/3rd-gen...ear-doors.html

There is a product made specifically for this, Link in thread. https://www.autozone.com/collision-b...0_0?spps.s=226

 

You have to take the handle off of the rear door and pull on the bare cables.

If that won't work you can remove the top half of the rear door panel and manipulate the latch with a screwdriver but it's a major pita.
You will have to bend the plastic door panel pretty far to get access to the upper latch.

For the Lower latch you should be able to just pull the cable itself, as it's almost a direct straight line under the handle.