• Hi Guest!
    If you appreciate British Car Forum and our 25 years of supporting British car enthusiasts with technical and anicdotal information, collected from our thousands of great members, please support us with a low-cost subscription. You can become a supporting member for less than the dues of most car clubs.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

BJ7 - Removing Door and Window Cranks

Share this page

J

Jersey

Senior Member
Country flag
Offline
What is the trick to removing the door and window cranks. I am changing the door panels and I be darned if I can see any fitting or pins to remove to get this off.

Do they simply pull off...I don't want to apply any elbow grease unless that is indeed the basic approach.

Please advise.

Thanks
 
Jersey,
There is a spring on the crank shaft between the internal rool up mechanism and the door panel. Push the door panel back against the spring pressure toward the internal mechanism and you will see a small pin that you push out and the handle will come off. The shaft has a square cross section. The pin is a loose fit and should come out easily. Hope this helps and have a good day!

John
 
Hello Jersey,

There is a small pin, looks like a nail, that slides thought the shaft of both the door and window cranks.

Push the plastic collar around the door crank in to locate it. It's not easy, to find or push out. Ask me how I know.

Good luck,
Roger

John, dude, you're a fast typest :hammer:
As Maxwell Smart would say, beat me by that much.
 
:savewave:

HI Jersey, thre are Collars {Escushions} behind the door handle and window crank whih must be pushed back to reveal pins that secure these items to their shafts. Using a suitable punch these pins can be pushed out freeing the handle and crank. Do not pull on them as you suggested.--Keoke
 
This isn't going to well...I have pushed back the plastic sleeve and see nothing that looks like a pin...even if I found it I have to keep pressure on the plastic collar to locate the pin and drive it out.

I guess I will have a scotch and try this in the morning. The window crank at least has some give...the door handle barely moves enough off the panel to even see behind it...I may have cut off the panel to get at this unless you gentlemen have a few tricks up your sleeves.

Thanks for trying.
 
They be a bugger sometimes Jersey :laugh:. You may have to use a spacer of some sort to hold the collars back. additionally you may have to rotate the crank so you can see the pin. If the pin is in a horizontal position you will not see it and it requires a vertical position anyway to remove it. Just be patient and you will get them off.----Keoke
 
It must have been I hit the scotch a little early...in the clear light of day I got them off in about 5 minutes. Thanks for the help.
 
Wait til you try to put them back in!!!!!
 
I don't remember, are they split pins or solid? But they are hard to put back. Be sure you use the correct holes on the shaft. There are two sets 90 degrees off from eachother.
 
The pins are solid. The window crank has only on set of holes and the door handle has 2. I did not notice which ones I ejected the original pin from... I expect I will be able to tell when I reorient the handle.

Thanks
 
One one of mine I ended up taking a nail, bending it, filing it almost in half, and inserting that instead of the original pin.
 
If you're replacing the door panels (as I did) the pins are even harder to put back in because the panel backing is still so stiff, and you have to push like heck to find the hole. You can also use a small piece of coat hangar instead of the pins if you happen to lose one. Just cut it to size and use a pair of long nose pliers to fit it into the hole. I also used a cotter pin which worked well and gave me a better tang to hold onto with my pliers. It took me about an hour on one side and 5 minutes on the other. Go figure. Bring beer.
 
Mine was the same way, I had replaced the door panels, couple of hours for the drivers side, passenger's side slid right in.
 
An alternative to the coat hanger (I only have plastic and wood ones) could be a spring pin.
249158_300.jpg
 
Hello Jersey,

The pin is nothing special. Just find a nail that's the right size for the hole. Not too tight, not too loose. I know, duh.

The toughest part of removing or replacing the pin is getting the panel pressed in enough to have access to the shaft. Another pair of hands helps out. They press the panel in, while you strategically with finesse of a surgeon and the mouth of a sailor, remove the pin. For pin removal, try using a coat hanger wire. You bend it to the angle you need. If the panel is pushed in enough, and no load on the shaft/pin, then the pin should push out easy. If not, use a small bent needle nose pliers to pull it out the rest of the way.

Here's two ways I've found that seem to work to replace the pins.

1. File a V in the nail where you want it to break off to the length you want.
Push the nail in, then snap it off at the V.

2. Use a nail with a flat head. File the head diameter down just enough so it will not push through the hole. (Don't use a finishing nail, for the head adds length, where the flat head doesn't.) Once nail has been cut to the right length, use the small bent needle nose pliers to hold the pin for insertion. The advantage of having a head is it will stop it from sliding through the shaft and dropping out.

Sounds good on paper, huh?!
I've removed the door panels more times than I'd like to admit. With practice, it's gets faster and easier.
Although I still do give the door panels the Deer In The Headlights Look, when I realize I need to remove it.

Cheers and good luck.
Roger
 
GregW said:
An alternative to the coat hanger (I only have plastic and wood ones) could be a spring pin.
249158_300.jpg
Click to expand...

Yes, I use these springpins, and they work excellent
 
:cheers: The pins are tapered. So they'll be easy to remove the correct way and difficult ta other. Replacements can be purchased at ACE hardware. Also available are roll pins that aaren't tapered.

While were on the subject, does the door handle really stick up as they show in some photos I've seen?
 
tahoe healey said:
Those are the "split pins" I was thinking of.
Click to expand...

:savewave:
Nope TH, those are generally called :Roll Pins", which utilize a friction fit in the hole. A split pin is Brit for our cotter pin. ---Keoke
 
Back
Top