My 2min winter door handle

[NHerron]

First off, happy holidays everyone. I'd like to mention, please don't knock it until you've been in the situation of a frozen door.

So in the matter of 2 minutes I made a discrete strong handle to pull on if my door is stuck closed in the winter time. Obviously it won't work with dripping water that turned to ice all over the door, it's mainly just for those foggy cold mornings in Montana.

I used the little 10MM head bolt that secures the door handle to the sheet metal and bent up some mechanics wire. I then blended it with black tape to keep it from standing out and as well as a semi comfortable handle. When I don't need it I just cram it back in the crack with my keys and when I do, just fish it out with keys, lift up on handle, pull on the cable and walah!

Tell me what you think and if you have any ways to make this idea better if you want. I literally thought this up and done it within a couple minutes.

 

[2slow4now]

That is one hell of an idea! For some reason the auto stores in my area carry dsm driver side door handles even though I rarely see dsm's running around here. Ice. Plastic handle. Yeah I wonder. My car only once but obviously others many times otherwise they wouldn't stock them.

I see a new product being made. Maybe make it a coated braided cable that won't scratch the paint. It would stay flexible so you don't have to bend it like mechanics wire every time yet easy to fish out of the crack but stiff enough to stay hidden.

 

[Kalub]

Mine broke in the middle of summer...


Good fix, but I've seen slightly more elegant ones.

 

[snooopy365]

Interesting way, but the better looking one would be to get a 1G
Is there no aftermarket handle that will handle this conditions? I've never seen a broken 1G handle.

 

[NHerron]

That is one hell of an idea! For some reason the auto stores in my area carry dsm driver side door handles even though I rarely see dsm's running around here. Ice. Plastic handle. Yeah I wonder. My car only once but obviously others many times otherwise they wouldn't stock them.

I see a new product being made. Maybe make it a coated braided cable that won't scratch the paint. It would stay flexible so you don't have to bend it like mechanics wire every time yet easy to fish out of the crack but stiff enough to stay hidden.

Thanks. And yeah, good idea... like some plasti-dip would probably do the trick

Mine broke in the middle of summer...


Good fix, but I've seen slightly more elegant ones.

That's nice. Didn't know a secondary redneck handle would be caught in the same sentence as elegant...

Interesting way, but the better looking one would be to get a 1G
Is there no aftermarket handle that will handle this conditions? I've never seen a broken 1G handle.

My handle is not broken FYI, the handle is fine. It's just I figured it wouldn't be such a good idea to reef on a plastic handle in -10*F weather. You know, like preventative maintenance.

 

[NHerron]

So, anyone have more ideas? Eventually I'll be doing one big article all about 2G door handles. It will cover reinforcing the plastic handles with a certain kit being sold, modding the tension spring to prevent the handles from snapping in the future, and this secondary handle for harsh winter climates. And a couple other small tips along the way.

I do like the idea of the flex cable being used instead of mechanics wire Anybody ever come across something similar in another forum and how they did it?

 

[Tyeler18]

Check out my video on YouTube "how to fix 2g door handles" or my tech article. I essentially altered the pivot point to allow opening with less pressure on the handle. It's been 3 years on multiple 2gs with zero of the $11 eBay special handles breaking off.

 

[Lofty]

You could try, you know, pulling on the door, instead of ripping the handle to try to unstick it.


But whatever opens your door, I guess they say.

 

[NHerron]

Right on I remember that video, I believe I am still using the trick (have yet to double check my research)

Another thing I notice with the door handles is the metal tab the rod attaches to on the handle. There is a preloaded spring resting against that piece to keep the handle retracted when not being pulled up and also sort of a damping effect. Well the spring is usually way to heavy and ends up literally bending the piece therefore causing the same problem. Solution? Take a dremmel to that bad boy and thin out the coils of the spring until you can lift the handle with your pinky. Leave the thick coils to the valve springs Now you don't have to worry about the added stress that heavy spring put on the plastic handle, as well as no longer being able to bend that piece.

I'm not 100%, just a discussion really but I believe I came up with the idea of that metal rod being slotted on the bottom is for the handle being easier to remove. Otherwise I think you have to unbolt the 3 Torx on the inside of the door jamb to let the latch mechanism slide down then being able to tilt the handle out and undo the plastic clip.

You could try, you know, pulling on the door, instead of ripping the handle to try to unstick it.


But whatever opens your door, I guess they say.

Fun comment

But seriously where would I go to grab to 'pull on the door' instead of 'ripping the handle to try to unstick it'

I hope you aren't saying a constant increasing force on the handle is going to magically unstick the door vs all at once force.

And no. I'm not carrying a prybar with me

 

[Lofty]

Haha, I'm kind of giving you shit. I live in Wisconsin I know how that goes.


Luckily I've only owned 1gs!

 

[NHerron]

I see, so you're Mr. Grinch, raining (snowing?) on my parade and terrorizing my poor little 2G

For some reason before I read where you were from, I could have sworn you were from Texas. Maybe another members picture got me mixed up. Anyway, it's a shame, because I was going to end my comment with calling you Tex' but read you were from WI...

 

[JusMX141]

Both of my GS handles broke during back-to-back winter months. I'm getting good at it, though- the last one only took me 43 minutes to change...and that included disassembling / cleaning the lock cylinder.

 

[dragonov_elite]

My secret for not breaking door handles in the winter on a 2g. Climb through the hatch area and open the door from the inside

Looks funny when your car alarm is going off in a college parking lot then you have the hatch struts fail and land on your legs or back .

 

[NHerron]

Thats pretty awesome

Or go oil rig style and slowly heat up the door with a propane bottle and torch..

 

[marcman804]

Lol this happened to me. One morning before going to work I went outside to warm my car up and when I went to open the door... "SNAP", the handle was in my hand, the passengers side was already broken so I had to go thru the hatch and my hatch struts were weak so you know how that ended. smh

My secret for not breaking door handles in the winter on a 2g. Climb through the hatch area and open the door from the inside

Looks funny when your car alarm is going off in a college parking lot then you have the hatch struts fail and land on your legs or back .

 

[Tyeler18]

Right on I remember that video, I believe I am still using the trick (have yet to double check my research)

Another thing I notice with the door handles is the metal tab the rod attaches to on the handle. There is a preloaded spring resting against that piece to keep the handle retracted when not being pulled up and also sort of a damping effect. Well the spring is usually way to heavy and ends up literally bending the piece therefore causing the same problem. Solution? Take a dremmel to that bad boy and thin out the coils of the spring until you can lift the handle with your pinky. Leave the thick coils to the valve springs Now you don't have to worry about the added stress that heavy spring put on the plastic handle, as well as no longer being able to bend that piece.

I'm not 100%, just a discussion really but I believe I came up with the idea of that metal rod being slotted on the bottom is for the handle being easier to remove. Otherwise I think you have to unbolt the 3 Torx on the inside of the door jamb to let the latch mechanism slide down then being able to tilt the handle out and undo the plastic clip.



Fun comment

But seriously where would I go to grab to 'pull on the door' instead of 'ripping the handle to try to unstick it'

I hope you aren't saying a constant increasing force on the handle is going to magically unstick the door vs all at once force.

And no. I'm not carrying a prybar with me

Interesting, my ebay door handles have some pretty weak springs on them. Under engineering FTW? I've had the doors on my 2g frozen shut and still gotten the door open.

For all you bastards that can climb through the trunk- both my 2g's are spyders.