Trick to securing interior door handle???

[airbrushguy]

Bought new horseshoe clips, positioned handle and escution directly on shaft, push on as much as possible, safely smack handle on further with fist only....close door, handle drops on floor. Took handle off and squeezed clip with pliers, put it back on, same thing happens.

Does anyone know of a trick or better way to keep these handles on? There is the possibility that the new door panel material is thicker than old, but what can I do?

Thanks

[Guest gossir00]

Bought new horseshoe clips, positioned handle and escution directly on shaft, push on as much as possible, safely smack handle on further with fist only....close door, handle drops on floor. Took handle off and squeezed clip with pliers, put it back on, same thing happens.

Does anyone know of a trick or better way to keep these handles on? There is the possibility that the new door panel material is thicker than old, but what can I do?

Thanks

i had the same issue. I purchased horseshoe clips from one of our classic Buick parts suppliers . Was told they were correct size. I noticed that he ends of the clips were too long eg restricted movement of the clip to fully seat in the channel. I clipped a small piece off both ends and the clip seated fully. No issues now. Hope this works for you.

Regards

Rick

BCA 45471

[Guest Grant Magrath]

I agree with Rick. But if you can find some originals, even better. Shouldn't be too hard. My Stingray uses them! I've had the same issue over the years. In some cases, a blob of epoxy, such as JB Weld can keep things in place.

Cheers

Grant

[Guest Shoe1932]

One of the rear door handles in our 1932 -67 is missing the escutcheon. We have it and I would like to put it on but am not quite sure how the door handle attaches. Is there a horseshoe clip on a '32 also and if so what is procedure and tool (if any) is needed to remove and re-install the handle. The manual doesn't go into any detail. It appears that I can push the door panel in a little to access a clip if needed but I haven't messed with it too much because I don't want to screw up the upholstery while on a searching expedition.

Thanks

[Joseph P. Indusi]

The best tool I found to remove the horseshoe shaped retaining clips looks like a pliers but with thin specially shaped jaws to grab the clips. There are other types but this is the best I have found.

Joe, BCA 33493

[Bob Engle]

Shoe: 32 buick handle are held on by a plunger inside the handle. The plunger is spring loaded. Just pushing it onto the post should lock it in place. If the pin is corroded, the pin may be stuck back in the handle and won't lock on the post. Penetrating lubes and pressure on the pin should free ujp the plunger. The bigger trick is removing the handles. You need to make a tool that will fit into the slot of the handle and pull the plunger outward to get it to release. There were some threads with photos on this issue about a year ago.

I hope this helps

Bob

[airbrushguy]

Forgot to mention I am working on a 1939 Buick.

[Guest Grant Magrath]

Will the handle stay on without the escutcheon, or does it pop off? I remember having to remove some of the padding behind the door panel on my 39 Chev to get the door handle to stay put. Just carefully pulled it out from the hole for the handle. And if you've put the springs behind the door panels over the splined shafts, you may have to lose them due to the extra thickness. But after all that, and you're still not having any luck, there's always JB Weld.

Cheers

Grant

[Guest Shoe1932]

Bob.

Thanks for the reply. I will get started on the tool to remove the plunger. Hope it is not corroded or stuck. I will take a closer look and contact you with any questions. Sounds like a lot of work to simply put an escutcheon on.

Thanks again.

[egor]

Do the handles have a spring behind the panel? I replaced the front door panels on my '38, the new Hampton Coach panels were too thick and caused the handles to pop off. Removed the springs, re-installed the panels and handles, no problem.

Forgot to mention I am working on a 1939 Buick.

[Restorer32]

FYI those "horseshoe clips" are available at most NAPA stores.

[airbrushguy]

Do the handles have a spring behind the panel? I replaced the front door panels on my '38, the new Hampton Coach panels were too thick and caused the handles to pop off. Removed the springs, re-installed the panels and handles, no problem.

Surprisingly the front doors have the springs, the backs do not. The handles pop off the back doors mostly....???

[airbrushguy]

Still having problem....afraid to use epoxy, what will I do if I have to remove panel?

[Guest outlaw car man]

One of the rear door handles in our 1932 -67 is missing the escutcheon. We have it and I would like to put it on but am not quite sure how the door handle attaches. Is there a horseshoe clip on a '32 also and if so what is procedure and tool (if any) is needed to remove and re-install the handle. The manual doesn't go into any detail. It appears that I can push the door panel in a little to access a clip if needed but I haven't messed with it too much because I don't want to screw up the upholstery while on a searching expedition.

Thanks

Shoe, I think it's the same on 1933- Odd things. Let me try and explain, I'm not the best author, but - The handles have a slot on one side, where it goes onto the window crank regulator. Under that is a hole with a spring, that in behind a little plunger. The plunger is held in place by two very small divits. The plunger moves up and down in the hole with the spring as a tension behind it.

What you do is use a dental pick that's at like a 45 degree angle. YOU HAVE TO GET IT JUST RIGHT and run the pick down the slot in the handle and depress the plunger in. When the plunger is depressed the handle will slide off.

As an example of getting it just right, I was at the shop and spent about a 1/2 hour trying to get a window crank handle off with the dental pick. The guy that runs the shop came over and hit the angle just right in 3 seconds and pop.

This is hard to explain, best if you have a handle or crank off the car so you can see the operation is.

If you still can't get it, PM me and we can go over it.

OCM

[egor]

Are you sure the handles are originals? If not maybe they're aftermarket or from a different year. Filing the notch in the shaft so it has sharper shoulders might be worth a try.

Surprisingly the front doors have the springs, the backs do not. The handles pop off the back doors mostly....???

[Guest Grant Magrath]

Still having problem....afraid to use epoxy, what will I do if I have to remove panel?

I haven't tried this myself, but in theory, some WD-40 shot into the door handle splines, then some fast setting epoxy put on the end of the shaft could hold enough so it doesn't pop off, but could be removed with not a huge degree of force. I did have some success with the door handle of my 39 Chevy by using a product made by Selleys called Knead-it. It comes in plain, Aqua, Steel, etc, for different applications. I used a bit of steel Knead-it to hold the handle in place, and it's all good as far as I know! Knead-it is a fast setting two part putty-like substance. So it doesn't run. You guys probably have it or something close.

Cheers

Grant

[38Buick 80C]

Are you sure the handles are originals? If not maybe they're aftermarket or from a different year. Filing the notch in the shaft so it has sharper shoulders might be worth a try.

Or in reverse are you sure the "post" the handle seats on is for the your car. note there are different post where the gear and indentation are in different spots. check the fronts versus the rears and make sure they are the same.

[airbrushguy]

These handles were the ones that were on the car before I restored the interior. The only thing changed was the covering on the door panel.

[airbrushguy]

Went back to square one, squeezed the clips tighter, eliminated all the backup springs, and low and behold my handles are on and tight.

Thanks for all your suggestions. My father always said don't over-think the problem. I guess he was right.

[Guest RonJar]

At this point, I'd be getting desparate. It might be troublesome but take the panel right off, put the handles back on with their clips and see if they stay on without the panels.

If they do, you know the problem is panel related. On my 38, I have a screw holding the window crank to the splined shaft to make it stay on and not slip when cranked. Mind you, now I'm having issues with the inside door handle spline when someone pulled rather than pushed the handle to open the door.

RonJ