sydneyman

so i had two projects this week:

1) Replace radiator, heater core, all coolant hoses, thermostat, water pump, and resevoir tank in the P38 Range Rover.

2) Replace the trigger on my passenger side door handle.

Guess which one took longer?

so i get to the part where ive replaced the trigger and im installing the handle back into the door, and while trying to pop the ball into the socket, the damn pot metal that connects the rod linkage to the handle snaps...

so now i need to order another 5 dollar part and have it shipped for another 10 bucks... not to mention wait another week from Porsche...



Seriously, wtf were the thinking with this design... ok i feel better now. carry on...

jeffrsmith

I feel your pain - did the same thing about 3 months ago with the driver's door.

Richgreenster

Just did the same thing this week. I will give you a huge tip.
Order the pin as well as the cotter pin clip. Then snap on both plastic pieces before installing the rotating linkage that you broke. Much much easier. The hardest part was installing the clip but that was really easy with grease and a screwdriver.
Good luck.

sydneyman

thanks guys, and rich i'll give that a try! I did the driver's door about 3 years ago (the trigger broke in EXACTLY the same spot) and i don't remember it being this big of an issue... oh well.

MAGK944

If the pot metal lug broke where that linkage attaches curious as to how are you going to fix that?

sydneyman

actually it broke around the swivel on the linkage. not where it attaches to the handle. all i really have to do is punch out the pin and replace the whole linkage. just sucks knowing it does't have to be this way!

sydneyman

..

jeffrsmith

+1 - what he said, mine broke in the same place

acorad

Just did mine yesterday, mine broke exactly where yours did.

A couple tips...

1) I couldn't remove the plastic clip end on the broken linkage from the ball on the lever inside the door that it mounts on. So I unscrewed the old broken linkage from the clip, counting the number of turns so I could ensure the clip on the new linkage was on the same number of turns.

2) After unscrewing the linkage I rotated the clip from vertical to horizontal toward the inside of the car, such that it mirrored the lever that attaches to, and was able to use a flat head screwdriver to pry the clip off the ball.

3) I put the new clip on the new linkage the correct number of turns, but it spun freely on the threads on the linkage and I couldn't keep it aligned on the ball inside the door, so I put a small strip of paper towel on the threaded linkage end and screwed the clip on over the strip and that friction was able to keep the clip from spinning too easily.

4) It's really dark inside the door, and the plastic clip is jet black making it really hard to see, so I painted the clip with white paint - made a huge difference.

5) Lubed the inside of the clip where the ball goes, aligned the clip on the ball, and using a pair of needle-nose pliers I pried the clip onto the ball.

6) Attached the other clip, the white plastic clip, to it's ball on the door handle.

7) Squeezed the handle trigger such that the lever actuator protruded, slid the pot metal triangle piece into place, and released the handle trigger such that the pot metal triangle was seated it's place.

That's when I found that the two holes in the triangle piece on the new linkage that the pivot pin friction-fits into were two different sizes and neither size would friction fit onto the old pin, so I inserted a piece of a wire shirt hanger in place of the pivot pin, bent it such that it wouldn't fall out, and called it a day.

Handle works like a charm now!

sydneyman

thanks for the tips! i'll put those into use when the part comes in! my task today is to remove he pin that holds whats left of my linkage... although it looks like someone flayed out the end of the pin to make sure it wouldn't move... so this'll be fun...

JohnKoaWood

FWIW, replacing the POT metal part with billet has been working just fine for me!