GMC Safari Van, rear door latch is broke inside the door, NO CAN OPEN the door. No inside latch.
I imagine I’ll have to totally unload , and crawl back there, I mean it is LOADED with a shelf above the wheels too. And maybe try to tear out the inside door cover? It is not a cargo type van, but was a passenger type..all carpet, headliner, rear speakers etc. OR, take a 4” hole saw and cut an acess hole from outside so I can getto the latch guts and patch the hole with a disc of copper (G).
I am not worried about the damage to get it apart, it is a full fledged work truck, but it does still look pretty sweet otherwise…
Any idea how to open the door and get to the side of teh door to gain acess to the guts? It latches to the other door, and at the top and bottom IIRC.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
The secret to a long life is knowing when its time to go. M. Shocked
Replies
Every van I owned could be unlocked by hand once I figured out where the mechanism was.
If you know someone with a similar (but unfinished) truck,
1) Take some dimensions for the locations of the openings that are there from the factory, there's usually one right near the outside handle, with maybe a 3"x4" opening.
2) If you can, put your hand inside his door while he manipulates the lock and the door handle from the outside so you know what the parts feel like and which direction they move.
I empathize. My old Grand Cherokee did the same thing last summer, I had to chop away at the inner plastic skin (damn, that's tough stuff) with a saw and a razor knife. And the back was LOADED with crap too big to get out the side doors. No fun.
Open with a twelve gauge and close it with a bunji cord.
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All the time I have been listening to the members at this site, they always say that when a job is beyond your knowledge, skills or available tools, ask the person who does the task all the time--the professional. May I suggest that you ask a locksmith--the type that opens vehicles with keys locked in them. You might also try the dealership repair mechanics for the vehicle type.
We have a Chevy Express so the guts might be similiar.
If I were you I'd unload the van, pull of the interior panels and you should be able to access the mechanism that locks the door. Repair as needed.
Think of the up-side, once you fully unload you'll find all those little tools you've been looking for the last 6 months... It's a chance to re-organize ;)
Yeah and with single digit lows forcast for the next week, I am sure it'll be a blast.
What sucks is all the tools I need to use to fix it, are burried from the back doors..DOH! I guess I will be puking everything out the side door, pile it up in yard and just tear into it. Dealer is outta the question, locksmith won't do any good either I don't think.
I was hoping someone had a secret jimmie method of getting it open.
Piffin, great idea!
Oh, BTW, the hinge pins can only comeout, by DRILLING the hardend pins...I know this well, we swapped out a door on Dales Chevy Suburban, it was a REAL PITA> and ate all our drill bits, they are swaged in.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
The secret to a long life is knowing when its time to go. M. Shocked
Duane I would try, a auto body repair shop, one of the
local goodole boy enterprizes. they have to do stuff like
that all the time plus if they charge you at all , it will be
at a heck of a lower rate than the dealer.I mean shoot
boy, ya have to network with the lower classes some of
the time.
LOL..lower classes..LMAO.
You might be right tho' I think I have a late start tomorrow anyway, I NEED to get a load of wood home first thing in the morning, I am almost out of firewood again, been burning it up like crazy lately, man it has been cold, and getting worse.
Left the garden hose hooked up to the yard hydrant, came home today it was busted, not the hose, the hydrants cast iron spout exploded...I gots me some ice statues now in the front yard...lucky I caught it and could hammer the valve down closed to shut it off.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
The secret to a long life is knowing when its time to go. M. Shocked
Gee I wasn't aware that the building trades were on the higher end of the class hierarchy. It sure doesn't feel like the upper end from down here.
oops forgot the wink/tongue in cheek thingee
i used to sell vehicles and work on them all the time. YOu should be able to access the guts of the door mechanism by taking the door panel off. It is probably frozen from wear and corrosion, some WD-40 sprayed on the mechanical parts inside might loosen it up. YOu should be able to figure out the mechanics of the locking mechanism from inside the door once you get the panel off. Without seeing it, its hard to tell exactly what's going on.
Take your truck to the nearest major city. Find a bad neighborhood, go into a store to buy a paper or something.
When you come back, it'll be open.
One other possibility is a locksmith. They may have, in their secret manuals, instructions for opening the rear door with their hook tool.
(And I'd guess that for safety reasons there would have to be an inside manual unlatch mechanism of some sort.)
Somebody has to say it . . . .
Fein Multi-Master ! ! !
Greg
been waiting for T to say, "NAPALM"
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
If this is just the handle there is a trick to opening the door see your GMC or Chevy dealer as its a common thing. The handles die cast metal and I think costs about $40.00
the only way to get it open is to take the inside door panel off.
i've had astros for many years,and the weak link is the door openers.
i've had the side door and the rear door handles break several times,get that door panel off and you can open the door again.
Randy
That is what I deduce. No way a gizmo will get both latches free, and there ain't no inside latch.
My last Safari had a busted pass. door handle, I know all about how brittle the cast zinc is, this handle is still Intact, it is something inside the door.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
The secret to a long life is knowing when its time to go. M. Shocked
Got 2 of those same vans. If the handle is good then the plastic dog has let go of the rod and its slipped out of the latch. Im thinking if you don't care about the patch of copper why not cut the hole behind the Lic. plate and reach in. Once open pull the skin. Zip tie the rod in place and tie a small line on the same loop...hang in out a hole ....
You know.....for next time.Mike"Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while" Mitremike c. 1990" I reject your reality and substitute my own"
Adam Savage---Mythbusters