Whelp I fudged Up...

So....I was replacing my door handles .. I've taken them off and put them on no problem....When I went to install the new ones.. purchased from 1A Auto... (returning them immediately)... I went to slide in the new handle...and It wouldn't go... I grabbed the old handle.. slid in like a glove, no problem.. went to put the new handle again.. didn't go... started to go in and then finally it slipped it... but didn't seem to be flush with the door liek it wouldn't close all the way unless I pushed it in the rest of the way.

So I took it out again.. went to put it back in to see if it didn't set properly .. and the whole interior door handle fell out.. into the door...

I have the door panel off now and I can get to the piece that the exterior door handle connects to.. but I can't seem to see or understand how it 'fell down' can't see what keeps it in place or what it bolts on to..its just loose and hanging on by something closer to the edge of the door. I will add pictures shortly...


FML.. uh...

 

Nevermind I solved the riddle. I will post picks and explain what happen once I'm done putting my door back together and restore my sanity.

 

Nevermind again.... Still not working.. I got the interior piece connected, but its still not attached to the latch...and I can't really see how it connects without removing another door panel and seeing how its done.

 

Here is what I'm working with.....

 

When I tigthen it back on to the door , its not pulling the latch there, its detatched can't figure out how to connect it to the latch again.

 

Pull your other panel, or get an IPB

 

So I got it back on and working, i had to pull down the latch inside the door slightly and slide the handle in at the same time for it to catch correctly... But then the torq screw didnt line up properly so i then had to put screwdriver and wedge the latch against the inside of the door with more force then comfortable and it snapped in to something.. I dunno lol.. Maybe i got lucky or something but its all working and what not, ording handles from @Roman this time.

This is the oem handle vs the one from 1a auto...definetly bigger and doesn't line up properly... so hopefully i get a refund.

 

Whats an IPB?

 

Illustrated parts breakdown.

 

I was tying to paint my door handles and ran into something similar I think. I removed the passenger rear door handle and painted it with plastic dip, then tried to reinstall it. When I would install it I would tip the front in, then the back then slide forward, yet when I slid it forward it seemed to stop short by like an 1/8 of inch(3mm for you metric fools). After messing around with it for a while I realized the only way to fix it was to pull down on the door opening lever just a little then install the door handle. I tried a bunch of different ways and in the end took the interior door skin off reached in and pulled down as I installed the handle. I have handles off my Tacoma before so knew how they came apart. From reading your post it sounds like you had a similar issue. I know when mine wasn't snapping in like it was supposed to I pushed really hard one time and heard a pop, and it was 1/2 of the clips that hold that plastic inside the door handle had pushed inside the door. I don't think I took pictures of it. Sorry.

I think you need to get the exterior door handle back in position hopefully you didn't break the tabs off, they are small. Get is snap backed into place. Then reach inside and pull down on the metal bar that runs vertical to it. Pull it down like 1/2inch then install the handle.

Good luck. Post some more photos if you still have issues.

 

This does sound very familiar. I'm hoping it snapped into place as well. I ordered new handles waiting for them to arrive before I put the door panal on to make sure all gets put on smooth with the new set of handles.

 

So I had to again slightly pull down the door handle metal bar from the inside for the exterior handle to slide in... I'm thinking something is out of wack. But once the exterior handle is slid into place it works just fine and everything is bolting into place, Just got the new handles last night from @Roman (insanely fast shipping) and put them on this afternoon. Definitely better quality than the 1A handles. If you're trying to save the extra 60 bucks like I was, not worth it. Just go with @Roman 's they go in perfectly and better quality.