I'm pretty sure if any of you weigh 250 or over, you've had a problem with this pesky under engineered item. I've replaced mine 3 times and it is ready for replacement again. The truck is 7 years old and gets very little use, under 25,000 miles. I'm wondering if any of you know of a fix or a stronger replacement part. It would seem the aftermarket would jump on this problem and come up with a better design, but I sure can't find one. Thanks for reading this, any help would be appreciated.

 

4/6 drop kit and you no longer need to heave yourself up. Def' know how you feel though.

 

It's a major issue as they are only held on by plastic. I fabb'ed my own repair up out of aluminum first time mine broke (and replaced it with an SRT pillar so I could put a transmission temp gauge in it). I used a solid aluminum rod and drilled/threaded it to replace the plastic piece.

It's common enough that there are a few 3rd party "repair kits" with metal parts to replace the plastic ones on the market. Here's the first one a Google search came up with:

http://www.imcoproductsinc.com/page/dodgeramaccesories

 

I ended up on my *** at my cousins house about a month ago due to the same problem. When I do replace it I will probably find a washer of the appropriate size to pass the bolt through versus just bolting the plastic down. I cant "repair" my handle that way because it didnt just stress and crack, it pulled the whole mounting point the bolt passes through off. There are kits with a sleeve that would supposedly fix this, but nothing a couple washers shouldnt be able to fix for a stronger handle.

 

Mine broke off the same day my bull bar got ripped off...