Passenger interior door handle issue [1960 BT-7]

[Bobbee44]

The passenger side interior door handle, when pulled back to the stop position, does not fully pull the bolt from the striker plate. The exterior handle, on the other hand, works exceptionally well. My preferred passenger, aka my wife, has no problem reaching over the sill to open her door from the outside; however, in inclement weather with side screens, this feat will be much more difficult.

Before I launch into removal of the door panels, will I find that there is a relatively easy fix?

Thanks,

Bob

 

[richberman]

The passenger side interior door handle, when pulled back to the stop position, does not fully pull the bolt from the striker plate. The exterior handle, on the other hand, works exceptionally well. My preferred passenger, aka my wife, has no problem reaching over the sill to open her door from the outside; however, in inclement weather with side screens, this feat will be much more difficult.

Before I launch into removal of the door panels, will I find that there is a relatively easy fix?
Thanks,

Bob

You'll need to bend the interior bar until it works well. You might only have to remove the interior panel, not the ones inside the door.

 

[Rob Glasgow]

I had the same issue on the drivers side door of my BT7. Turned out that the “door latch assembly” that holds the pin that enters the striker plate had cracked and was "spreading' when I pulled the interior handle and would not retract the pin enough to allow the door to open. My outside handle worked fine like your's. I had to buy a replacement mechanism from Moss. That fixed the issue. The latch assembly is item 10 on the Doors and Fittings page.

 

[Keith_M]

The answer is obviously to not get out of the car in inclement weather.:glee:

I fixed this same problem in my BT7 by bending the bar connecting the handle and the latch as suggested by Rich. This also cured the bar of rattling when the door was slammed because it was now a tight fit between the latch and handle. You shouldn't have to remove any panels to try this fix. If it doesn't work, then you will have to remove panels and look for another problem like the one Rob described.

 

[Bobbee44]

Thanks guys. As always, good advice. I will spend some time this wekend and hope that a bend will mend.

Bob