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Can someone please tell me where I might find a durable sliding door exterior handle for a 2013? I just broke my 3rd one.
Obviously OEM was no good.
I then ordered some on Amazon from a company call PT Auto Warehouse out of California. They were even crappier than OEM.
What should I do? I'm tired of replacing this cheap plastic garbage.
It's holding up fine but it hasn't been that long. We'll see in another 5 years. The part that broke didn't change at all.
It's actually cheaper now than when I bought it. It's $41 now and I paid $46. That's a surprise! https://www.gmpartsdirect.com/oem-pa...tside-23473841 I should still have this one floating around some place as I figured I would keep it to install later. I don't recall opening it to see if it was aluminum or not.
Edit: I think it might have been this one 🤔. I ordered the wrong one first and it was for the front passenger door. https://www.gmpartsdirect.com/oem-pa...tside-84084710
I ordered the first one from rockauto and the second from gmpartsdirect
Express / Savana newer sliding door handle on left with aluminum housing. GM 23473841
My first 2002 the handle had been changed but sometimes you had to push in a little on the sheetmetal to make it work. I used it plenty of times in three years and never had any other issue. If they keep breaking I would go through the rest of the latch mechanism to make sure nothing is stiff or binding.
@Triaged Thank you. And you drive a 2015, correct?
@William Kisselstein The mechanism is fine. The problem is the handle. I have no idea what your 2002 is like but the van bodies underwent revisions in 2003. Take a look at the photo that Triaged posted. The connecting rod is only connected on ONE side of the handle (the top). That means the force on the hand is very asymmetrical. You can feel it twist and bend cheaply in your hand like a spring when you open the door, and since the handle is made of cheap plastic with no reinforcement to spread out the force, it always breaks in the same spot. (especially in the winter when plastic becomes brittle) It's a VERY stupid design and I'd like to kick the designer in the groin for it. Is your assembly made of plastic too?
1996 to current vans are the same body shell, the only changes were in 2003 when the nose and dash were redesigned, along with the door panels. There are running changes since then (mostly related to computer controls) but all of them have the same stupid plastic door handles in a plastic insert. Rock Auto the GM Genuine handle shows an interchange 1996 through 2009.
Like I said, they should not be repeatedly breaking off. Assuming they are not being abused, if it keeps breaking, there must be an issue elsewhere in the door. The doors are so poorly made that just some flex in the doorskin can prevent the latch from working properly, so if the handle is just enough out of position to require it be overextended to actuate the latch, that would likely cause stress that would cause it to eventually break.
Fixing that however is another issue. The simplest way would be to run a bolt through the door somewhere close enough to the handle to allow it to adjust the metal in or out but without being in the way of any mechanism. But this would leave a little wart on the door to look at. If the door skin needs to come out, even a wood block slipped between inner and outer door and then screwed to the inner door would do the job.
If post 2009 handles are different, then the solution may be to look at the older handle assembly and use one of those on the door. If the activation rods are flexing then I would pull one out, go find a heavier material and copy it.
Ultimately if I were to do another one of these vans and keep it, I would try the cast metal handle assembly, or I would find an older vehicle with handles that work the same way and cut them out and weld them into the door openings. Same for the lock cylinder opening, although those could be cut out of any older GM car. Or, I would install a solenoid inside the door to pop it so I didn't have to use the handle at all.
...Like I said, they should not be repeatedly breaking off. Assuming they are not being abused, if it keeps breaking, there must be an issue elsewhere in the door...
That sounds highly probable. After I replaced the handle when I replaced the latch mechanism I did quite a bit of tweaking afterwards. I tweaked a little bit of everything including the linkage to the rear latch and the rollers top and bottom. When I was done my wife said it was "a ton easier" to open and closes "more solidly".
I'm having the same issue as OP, the sliding door handle keeps cracking whenever somebody yanks it too hard, when the door is locked, or when they let it "snap" back. I'm surprised there's no metal version of this handle, or some way to reinforce it. Has anybody come up with a solution?
I have a 2016 Express, and because nobody sells a full 2016 sliding door handle, I buy the older style (plastic, different lock cylinder mount) and just swap out the actual handle piece, which is the same.
I don't think you would want metal. Changing materials would simply shift the failure point to other (more expensive and difficult to repair) parts. The whole mechanism is junk.
December 28th, 2021, 6:18 PM
Slider door handle
