Just tried to open tailgate and the handle came off in my hand!!!!!

Hi all
J/ust been out to de freeze the car and went to open the tailgate and the whole plastic handle part came off in my hand!!!!:doh: it looks like the plastic must of gone brittle around the bolt fixings.
Now ive done a quick search for a replacement and they all seem to be coming in at around a £100 for this bit of plastic!!!!
anyone know where best place for one of these is?

thanks ian

It cudve been the door

lol yeah on the bright side i didnt break both my feet as well. nice annoying start to the day

Repair it, I used liquid metal to "glue" in stainless studs and collars.

They take the ***s with the prices of these handles.

Hoyt-Protec said:

Repair it, I used liquid metal to "glue" in stainless studs and collars.

They take the ***s with the prices of these handles.

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I agree - ridiculous price for a new one, even with 20% discount.

I repaired mine twice before giving up and going to the LR dealer.

It's caused by water and salt etc. getting behind the handle and into the bolt housings. Eventually the corrosion splits the plastic and any repair you manage is temporary as the strength has gone and you must be forever gentle.

No problem until helpful father-in-law opens the door. Poor bugger he was so apologetic thinking he had broke it.

I greased up the new one good and put silicone round the rubber seal between the handle and the body.

Beware dropping the interior door nuts inside the door as they are a sod to retrieve. Best to use a 1/4" drive socket to get at them.

Singvogel.

just my 2 penneth:

glue them 1st with superglue to get them to hold in place, then go over the repair with a good coat of araldite for the strength.

better if you rough up all the surfaces with sandpaper before too.

repaired mine getting on for 4 years ago after backing into a concrete post in a pitch black underground garage, not had any problems yet.

I agree - ridiculous price for a new one, even with 20% discount.

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where did you get one with 20% discount singvogel?
im just looking now for the best place to get one, apart from watching i dont loose the nuts is it pretty straight forward?

ian

ianch28 said:

where did you get one with 20% discount singvogel?
im just looking now for the best place to get one, apart from watching i dont loose the nuts is it pretty straight forward?

ian

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My experience is if you turn up at most LR dealers wearing a set of mucky overalls the parts dept. guys are usually OK and give a bit off. A bit of friendly banter works miracles. No harm in asking.

Had the same at the BMW place too.

It the salesmen in the smart suits that need avoiding. Mechanics and parts guys are normally still living in the real world. Try it.

Changing over the handle is pretty easy - you only need to remove the top RH corner of the plastic sheet stuff behind the rear door card. Door card comes off easy too - some big screws at the bottom, then plastic clips at the sides. Card lifts out from the bottom and up to release from the top slots. Don't try pulling from the top! watch out for a little rubber trim that may fall off the card top right.

Handle comes with all new lights and holders etc. - mine were corroded to hell so at least that was a plus.

Lock barrel just slides out easy. Whack some grease on there too.

Singvogel.

thanks for that ive just taken the door card off and it looks like someone has been in there before and the small seal did drop off lol.
by the condition off it it needed changing anyway and theres a small bit of rust on the door that needs treating as well.
Are the nuts on the handle side normally fixed into the plastic and then attached to the bolt with threads on both ends when you buy a new unit?
will try to get one ordered and let you know how i get on with it

thanks again ian

ianch28 said:

thanks for that ive just taken the door card off and it looks like someone has been in there before and the small seal did drop off lol.
by the condition off it it needed changing anyway and theres a small bit of rust on the door that needs treating as well.
Are the nuts on the handle side normally fixed into the plastic and then attached to the bolt with threads on both ends when you buy a new unit?
will try to get one ordered and let you know how i get on with it

thanks again ian

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Yeah - I had exactly the same - a little rust on the door and the bolts pulled out of the plastic corroded to hell - couldn't do any proper strong repair. I ran for a couple of days with the handle switch hanging loose till I got the rust fixed right.

Maybe other folks had less corrosion of the bolts and glue will work for a while, but .......

You're right, the new handle comes with the bolts fixed in sticking out ready to fit through the holes in the door.

I can't remember if there were new nuts included or not. I don't think so, or I wouldn't have had the struggle I did to get the original one out of the door interior, where it fell.

Good luck - have fun.

Singvogel.

The last freelander i had did that i drilled a hole in the middle of the Handel and used a coach bolt there is a hole already in the door you have to make sure the bolt does not catch the glass hope this helps cost about 40p instead of £100

Thats my plan when mine snaps off again

The last freelander i had did that i drilled a hole in the middle of the Handel and used a coach bolt there is a hole already in the door you have to make sure the bolt does not catch the glass hope this helps cost about 40p instead of £100

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It will definitely not come off again with a coach bolt holding it on good idea might have a look at that as well

ianch28 said:

It will definitely not come off again with a coach bolt holding it on good idea might have a look at that as well

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Perhaps?? - it's the plastic that will give way first - not the coach-bolt.

Photos please, if anybody goes down this road.

S.

I toyed with the idea when doing mine, but decided whilst it'd look great on a tratter (probably increasing it's value) it'd look a bit agricultural on my Freebie

got a handle this morning though they never gave a dicount
was pretty straight forward to do although i did drop one of the internal nuts but luckily it fell the right side of the door skin lol
All in all pretty painless except the point where i parted with my cash lol
thanks all for the advice and instructions

ian

hi guys i had the same problem with mine and have been nursing it along for a couple of weeks till pay day but it broke again today but it only cost me £3.50 to fix it