Door Latch Assembly Removal

[clayc_989]

Okay so I'm replacing the guts of one of my doors (96) and I can't figure out how to get the linkage from the door lock actuator seperated from the latch assembly. Is the actuator going to need to be removed along with the latch? If so, with it being rivited in, how do I go about removing it?

Thanks,
-clay

 

[superduty4x4]

I'm trying to remember how I did it now... I think if you have the latch unbolted from the door and the other linkage disconnected you can wiggle it around enough to unhook the lock actuator linkage. If you don't want to drill that rivet out, you can pry the actuator out of the clamp but it's a chore getting it in and out of that bracket/clamp.

 

[clayc_989]

I got it figured out...kinda. I managed to pull up some exploded parts diagrams of the door. Come to find out, the actuator would indeed need to be removed with the latch if the integrity of the rod from the actuator to the latch were to be deemed questionable. The rod as far as I could tell was pretty much part of the actuator and where it went through the hole in the latch linkage, it was a 180° bend.

I eventually broke down and used one of those screw drivers with the interchangeable bits to bend it up to 90° and pushed it out. Then simply bent it back for the new latch...

The first one was a pain but the second was done in about ten minutes once I got it figured out.