Plus it's better to have a new handle with a seal than to put epoxy and hope that you filled everything. If you drip any on your paint too, you will have a hellova time with that. Best to do it right the first time.

 

Ok i went and bought a Torx screwdriver tonight, i'll take off the panel tomorrow night and see if theres anything i can fix inside, but i really think its gonna come down to buying a new handle, which is fine since i found one on Partstrain for $13.

 

So if i do have to wait for a door handle to get here, is there anyway to temporarily protect it from water getting in? There is a chance of Rain on Wednesday/Thursday and i know i won't have the part by then. Its about 1/16-1/8 of an inch gap, could i just use scotch tape and make a little covering for it just to keep water out and that way it isn't sticky enough to peel paint off?

 

Dude post a pic. Can you confirm if the door handle plastic is actually broken ? Or is it possible......that it's the metal that got bulged out ?

Either way I fixed mine after it got rained on....since I couldn't fix til the weekend.

It was an easy fix, imo.

 

I posted a pic earlier on the page, i'll post it again: http://www.flickr.com/photos/64667941@N00/4316706107/ It may be the metal, i don't know yet, i just don't want water getting in and possibly rusting or messing with the electrical. The plastic isn't broken, it seems like it may be bent, like i bent the handle. I was pulling pretty damn hard on it, but it didn't break, what "metal" are you referring to? Is there a metal plate on the back of the plastic area of the handle?

 

Ok I see the pic. Now from what I can tell it's "IDENTICAL" to how mine looked !

Your door has an indentation for the plastic door handle with two mounting holes drilled into the door metal. For that handle, the mounting point closest to your thumb(or rear of door) is , imo, too far toward the front of the handle. Therefore with a strong pull, it appears to easily pull the metal slightly.

I purchased my first Dodge vehicle back in Aug 09' with 21k miles and within 2-3 days I noticed my pass side handle was pulled away from the door yet my drivers side wasn't. Was it frozen(Truck came from Michigan) or was it just some folks playing "lock out" ?

When I had the time(I don't recall if it was within the first or second week of ownership) a friend and I went at it. We took the interior panel off, too the handle off and had a look. Clear as day the metal at the rear most pointing point was bulged. I took a piece of cardboard and #3 Phillips screw driver (I think cause it was larger than the mounting hole) and with a rubber mallet softly tapped the metal to it's original......or maybe slightly beyond. Remounted the handle and the interior panel and you could never tell I did anything or there ever was a problem.

FYI I took my truck to a car wash when I first got it. So I'm pretty sure high pressure water gets into many places you might not think it would.

Buying a new door handle might be a complete waste of $$$ Trust me , take a look first to see if you have the same problem as I did.

 

How long did the repair take you?

 

And also how do you take the outer handle off? I have found lots of posts on removing the interior panel, but none that talk about taking the exterior handle off.

 

aside from water leaking in, this just kinda shows how it easy it is to brake into a ram....a good pull and the door handle comes off....all the inner workings are reight there....easy entering....scary

hope you get this fixed man! keep us posted!

 

Total time ? Maybe an hour messing around. It's not hard at all, imo.

1/4 inch ratchet, extension and 10mm socket for the handle. 2 nuts on the inside of the door.