The other day , I noticed the passenger side rear door handle on our '04 Envoy was loose .
Not just the lever portion , but the complete handle , base and all .
Investigated from the outside and found it was still holding on toward the top .
Removed the inside door panel and sound proofing to find that the bracket that is suppose to secure the handle to the body had rusted in half . The lower half had fallen to the bottom of the door .
Hmm , Saturday afternoon ... No junk yards open and highly doubtful that particular part would be available from a general auto parts store .
I figured I could easily make a suitable bracket if I had a piece of flat stock . I looked around , but , couldn't find what I thought might make the ideal bracket .
What else ??? I kept an old license plate for the nicely workable material they are made of . Kind of thin stock , but , it might just work if I double the thickness .
Measured what was left of the old bracket and added how much I thought was missing , then cut a couple strips from the plate . Put them flat together and bent them to match the old bracket . Drilled a hole for the hold down bolt on the handle and test fit them . Just a slight bit of trimming and the 'new' bracket fit perfectly .
Installed and working as it should with no slop involved .
The silver part in the pic below is the part I 'reproduced' . The portion directly under the nut , albeit not nearly as elaborate as GMC stamped out . I left the portion to the right off . There seems to be no ill effects .
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Not just the lever portion , but the complete handle , base and all .
Investigated from the outside and found it was still holding on toward the top .
Removed the inside door panel and sound proofing to find that the bracket that is suppose to secure the handle to the body had rusted in half . The lower half had fallen to the bottom of the door .
Hmm , Saturday afternoon ... No junk yards open and highly doubtful that particular part would be available from a general auto parts store .
I figured I could easily make a suitable bracket if I had a piece of flat stock . I looked around , but , couldn't find what I thought might make the ideal bracket .
What else ??? I kept an old license plate for the nicely workable material they are made of . Kind of thin stock , but , it might just work if I double the thickness .
Measured what was left of the old bracket and added how much I thought was missing , then cut a couple strips from the plate . Put them flat together and bent them to match the old bracket . Drilled a hole for the hold down bolt on the handle and test fit them . Just a slight bit of trimming and the 'new' bracket fit perfectly .
Installed and working as it should with no slop involved .
The silver part in the pic below is the part I 'reproduced' . The portion directly under the nut , albeit not nearly as elaborate as GMC stamped out . I left the portion to the right off . There seems to be no ill effects .
