Bronco II Liftgate Latch Handle Broke, Falling out

I initially had a problem where the latch handle was turning and only intermittently would unlock the glass and never the main latch.

This B2 came to me with this problem and hadn't investigated it when it further broke in a way where the handle was pulling an inch or two out of the hole and seemed to have no function at all.

So I finally got around to digging into it and found both the initial and most recent symptoms were not an uncommon occurrence. I found this repair note:

http://www.broncoiicorral.com/library/liftgate_latch_repair.htm

This looked like it may have been great for the initial problem, but doesn't address the problem where the handle pulls out an inch or two.

All I could find was that the handle had to be replaced.

I wasn't having luck finding a new handle. Found a listing for one according to description but without picture I just wasn't sure.

So I was looking at salvage yard.

Before I got that far I decided to pull the latch handle and see if I could figure out what could be done.

What I found was that the handle mount had broke. Not just broke, but had been worn down so much that the part holding the handle shaft could be pulled thru the handle mount. I figured adding a piece of aluminum to bridge what was missing that it should be possible to make a repair by doing some welding.

I neither have the tools or skill to do that with aluminum. So I looked at what I could do and I was able to make a functional fix with less than $1 in parts from my local hardware store. Performing my fix plus the fix in the link above solved al the problems. It now works great for both the glass and gate.

The only down side to the fix is the spring return no longer functions. I find however that between the gate and window actions the handle pretty much stays pretty close to where it would be if the spring return was functioning.

My question. Is it worth documenting this fix? For all I know there are other or the identical fix that has already been documented.

I took pictures of it before I did anything for reference. I wasn't certain it would work so wasn't thinking about documenting what I did. So I would have to pull the fixed handle out again to show what I did. But if this would help anyone I wouldn't mind doing. I just don't see much point duplicating something someone has done or may be a better fix than what I did.

I would like to see how it was broken, so i know what to look for when mine decides to do something stupid.

I haven't seen such a write-up, and after a quick search couldn't find one. I'd be interested in seeing your solution written up.

Richard

Lil-Pony said:

I would like to see how it was broken, so i know what to look for when mine decides to do something stupid.

Click to expand...

Turns out I didn't get a complete pic of the broken one but I can show/explain how it was broke on a pic of a good one. Here is a good one showing what I call the handle mount. The part that holds the handle into the liftgate and the handle shaft turns within.



This pic shows in yellow the area where the break occurred.



What I suspect happens is that the uneven force of the latch operation puts a lateral force on the handle shaft. That in turn stresses the portion of the mount encasing the handle shaft. Eventually it develops a crack. I suspect that cracks in this area causes some of the same symptoms the other fix addresses and it may be that the stresses only get bad enough to crack it when it gets to the point where the other problems. are occurring.

In any case, when it initially breaks, it still continues to work to a degree because there is nowhere for the broken part to go. The aluminum continues to wear away where the break occurs. It was very clear on mine that it had been wearing for a long time. Eventually enough wears away that the portion of the mount encasing the handle shaft is able to pull thru the other portion of the handle mount allowing the handle to pull an inch or two out. At that point it is pretty much non-functional.

As I said above, it should be possible with an aluminum collar to weld the broken pieces together as one potential way to fix.

Over the weekend when I get a chance, I will pull it out again and get some pics of how I did a simple repair.

mine did the same thing what exactly should I do I did that simple fix that was linked but my mount broke... without welding what should I do

will.moyer said:

mine did the same thing what exactly should I do I did that simple fix that was linked but my mount broke... without welding what should I do

Click to expand...

Yes that simple fix won't help with the mount broken, but it is a great fix for what it does. When I did my repair I did that other fix as well. I also spent time lubricating the mechanism (with graphite lubricant so it doesn't bind in cold weather) and straitening out some alignment issues with the latches. All of which was causing it to not work smoothly and probably contributed to it breaking in the first place.

It is hard to describe what I did without pictures and I had other issues to deal with last week so didn't get them yet, but I will get them up. I will describe what I did.

I recommend reading thru and getting the parts you need before proceeding with any modification. Disassembly will likely be needed in order to find parts that fit. The two parts are an o-ring (if needed) and a E-clip (aka jesus clip). I got both at my local hardware store for about $1 total.

This fix doesn't preclude doing a welded fix at a later date. As I mentioned in the original post, it does restore latch function but the spring return won't work. On my B2 where both the gate and window open, the handle is still contained within 30 deg of its spring return location. I don't know how it will be on one where the glass can't be opened.

I will give the basics of what I did.

1) Completely removed the latch handle as outlined in the other repair:

http://www.broncoiicorral.com/library/liftgate_latch_repair.htm

2) Removed the latch arm from the handle per the above procedure. This allows the handle (with shaft) to be removed from the handle mount. All the work is done to the handle and the two pieces of the handle mount. For purpose of this discussion I will use the term handle to refer to the external handle that is turned to open the liftgate, handle mount to refer to the large portion of the handle mount with the two bolts that hold it into the liftgate and shaft sleeve to refer to the piece that broke off of the handle mount which has the spring and thru which the shaft goes.

3) File the surface of the handle mount where the break occurred just enough to remove the paint any irregularities in the original casting and any high spots that may be at the beak itself. This will yield a flat surface around the hole in the mount for the handle shaft. It won't be completely around the hole as the casting has a notch in the bottom portion. I assume it was done to allow any water that gets into the shaft to drain.

4) Insert the handle into the handle mount. Leave the shaft sleeve to the side for now. Take a hacksaw blade and set it so it is lying flat against a portion of the surface that was filed flat in the step above with the teeth facing the handle shaft as shown in the picture below.



Now here is the tricky part that takes 3 hands. What you want to do is rotate the handle and let the hacksaw cut a groove into the handle shaft such that the groove is even with the surface that had been filed down. This groove doesn't need to be very deep. I only went maybe 30 thousandths. Enough to get a definitive groove that in my judgment would hold adequately (see below to understand what it holds), but not enough to weaken the handle shaft. With the handle mount broke the shaft will see all the force. It is important that the handle be pressed fully into the mount and the hacksaw remains flush against the filed surface with a little pressure against the shaft. If the handle is allowed to move out or hacksaw not stay flat against handle mount, the grove won't be clean, might not hold as well or otherwise allow some undesirable slop.

5) Clean off any metal filings.

6) Check the o-ring on the handle and replace if necessary. I recommend this after doing the above so as to avoid metal filings in the o-ring. I could hardly tell there was an o-ring on mine as it had disentrigated and what was left was pretty much the same color as the shaft. If for some reason the o-ring is good, it might be good to remove it before performing step 4. I got replacement o-ring at my hardware store. There were a couple that fit. I selected one that did not have lots of compression. Others made the handle movement stiff. I lubricated the new o-ring with a bit of petroleum jelly before installing it on the handle shaft.

Handle before steps 4 thru 6:


Handle after steps 4 thru 6 showing new o-ring and grove in shaft which is a bit hard to see due to the glare:


7) Re-insert the handle into the handle mount. Align the handle the way it would normally be when installed. When the word "gate" on the handle is upright the notch in that filed surface would be down. Install an E-clip (jesus clip) into the grove that was cut into the handle shaft from the top (opposite the notch).

Pic showing E-clip before installed on handle shaft:


With the E-clip in place, the handle should be securely held within the handle mount with the E-clip sliding against the surface that was filed flat in step 3. I lubricated it with some graphite so it moves very smoothly. I choose to install it opposite the notch such that normal latching action would have the E clip always on the flat surface, but I find that with the size of the clip that it easily rides over the notch. I expect over time it may migrate around the shaft anyway but felt why not set it in a preferred location to start.

E-clip installed:



When selecting an E-clip at the hardware store I found two sizes I felt would fit on the shaft. The larger one had bigger area to hold against the filed portion of the handle mount and would have some compression against the shaft. The smaller one would have lots of compression against the shaft but less surface against the handle mount. I opted for the smaller one as the thickness of the wider one was a hair wider than the natural hacksaw blade cut and since I made a shallow cut I felt the tighter fit on the shaft would hold better. I was pleased with the result. I can get the part number of this E clip if anyone wants the exact one I used.

At this point it is possible to re-install the latch arm and forget about the shaft sleeve and it should work. Because the handle shaft is aluminum however I didn't want to rely on my shallow grove so felt it was better to give it some additional support so I proceeded as follows. If nothing else it keeps the extra parts in a safe place so if some day I end up having to re-visit this and want to weld it, everything is there.

8) If you slide the shaft sleeve over the shaft, now that the E ring is in place you will note that the sleeve protrudes further than the base of where the latch arm will sit. File the broken end of the shaft sleeve.

Shaft sleeve after broken end has been filed down:


File it such that when it sits flush against the E-ring it extends to its normal position just about flush with the surface where the latch arm sits. Don't forget to de-burr the inside of the shaft sleeve after filing it. I had to take off about 75 thousandths off on mine. When done I lubricated it with graphite.

Pic showing how filed down portion of shaft sleeve now sits on top of E-clip and how the top is aligned with the top of the shaft (note, on mine the tab that would protrude from the shaft sleeve into the latch arm is broken off, if you have that tab still, this picture illustrates how far shaft comes up not counting that tab which will be higher):


While putting the shaft sleeve here will not restore the spring return function, the sleeve being captive between the latch arm and the E-ring will act to help keep the E-ring from wearing the groove it sits in and act as an additional support to keep it in place.

9) Re-install the latch arm. I recommend doing the washer modification as described in the other fix as well since it is all apart. If the handle rotation starts to bind or becomes stiff after the latch arm is tightened down, remove the latch arm and file away a bit more from the shaft sleeve as per above and try again till rotation of the handle isn't significantly affected by installation of the latch arm.

10) Re-install the entire latch handle assembly. As I mentioned at the start, you will want to insure the latch mechanism is working well so excess force isn't needed to operate.

Picture of finished modified latch:


I hope this help.

I took the latch out to get some pictures to document what I did. I have added pictures into the description above.

ab_slack said:

I took the latch out to get some pictures to document what I did. I have added pictures into the description above.

Click to expand...

thanks im about to work on it this weekend after i paint it flat black trying to get rid of the rust haha

Very nice write up. Thanks for doing it.

I just made this same repair but I just used a large washer big enough to fit around the handle shaft. After grinding off some of the shaft sleeve, I reinstalled it and sandwiched the washer between the sleeve and the broken part. The od of the washer was big enough to keep the whole mess from sliding out. Works great.