New door handle, trouble locking & closing?

[AE2499]

My stock drivers door handle finally broke and I so I’m replacing both sides today and ran into a problem. When trying to lock the door it is super hard and feels like I’ll break it if I keep trying and won’t close. Any help?

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

 

[BLACK'98DSM]

Either the rods are bent or you hooked them up wrong. I had a similar issue the first time I changed my door handle and I don't remember exactly what caused it. As soon as I popped the door handle off I found the issue though. It may even have something to do with the lock cylinder. You probably installed it upside down.

 

[dustyboner]

W T F is that nut/bolt, is it just me or does that shit not look right?

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

 

[1999RSfwd]

@dustyboner it's not supposed to look like that. It looks like someone was having problems opening the door, and did that to take up the slack of that rod. When you lift up on the handle, it pushes that rod down, and opens the door. The rod can get out of adjustment and not get pushed down far enough to open the door. People will sometimes add a bolt with a nut (like shown) so the rod doesn't have to be pressed down as far.

 

[1999RSfwd]

Refer to this thread HERE post #4, for what I'm talking about.

 

[BLACK'98DSM]

I had to do the same thing with both of my door handles. I put a 6/32 screw and nut through that rod to take up the extra slack. Both doors open much easier that way. I think there was supposed to be a plastic bushing in there but they eventually fall apart.