'96 GMC 1500: pwr. door lock actuating rod..any way to unhook door latch end w/o full disassembly?

[DennisT]

What a mess. My '96 1500 came to me with flaky driver's door inside handle and intermittent power lock actuation. I spent all day today working on this door per 1A-Auto's you tube. Had new inside handle and new pwr. actuator. Got door apart and found the lock rod unhooked at inside door handle end. POS former owner apparently had pwr. actuator trouble, and ty-rap'd the actuator back in !!!!!!! Tries to work while flopping around!! Nothing wrong with inside handle but replaced it anyway. Properly reattached pwr. actuator, (which works fine) Really awkward getting these doors back together. Finally got middle panel partially attached. Went to attach rods. The one for inside handle went on fine. But the one for the pwr. actuator required me to move the plastic manual inside lock slider to the position allowing the most room for the rod. When rod attached, it can't move anywhere. Just like the rod is too long !!! I'm stumped!! It's just like the PO tried to use the wrong, (longer) lock rod. I know L and R rods are different. I WISH I had a photo of a LH rod and a RH rod, side-by-side, and identified so I could see the difference. ANY pictures around? LMC has diagram but does not show difference. Bends? Lengths? I need to get this truck on the road this week but don't know what to do next. I might take a chance that the closest wrecking yard, (50 miles at $5.20/gal), would have one. I need to know what's the right thing to be in there. Worse, do I have to rip out the door edge complete door latch to switch lock rod end???????? I keep hoping I'm missing something. I know my problem is an oddity, so hard for folks to comment, but if anyone has thoughts, I'd appreciate hearing them.

 

[DennisT]

I keep trying to refine my problem to just one or two possibilities. I compared the solenoid travel on this, apparently, original actuator with my just received new one. They seem the same. I'm now wondering if the previous owner's antics resulted in their bending the rods out of original shape. But I have nothing to compare to. I might reform it, or them, if I had something to go by. Right now they pass by each other too close....almost rub. I doubt that was the way they started out.
SO........I'm now in desperate need of seeing what a left side set of door rods look like. LMC's catalog isn't much help, except there is evidently some bends to them. And I've searched the internet and forums 'till I'm almost blind.
?????????????????????????

 

[Eveready]

One possibility might be to look in a junkyard. Many trucks that have door panels removed might have enough of the hardware left to give you an idea how it is laid out and also provide any pieces you might have the wrong one of. The phone camera is your friend as you can get it into places you can't see into. Just a thought. Good luck and tell us how you come out. I don't have any expertise on the power setups but someone here has probably been through it.

 

[df2x4]

https://nemigaparts.com/cat_spares/epc/chevrolet/53c-c/16/tzc16-34/

This diagram from Nemiga Parts should have all the GM part numbers for the door hardware. The illustration isn't great, but if you find the part numbers of what you need to look at and plug those into Google or eBay you might be able to find some good pictures of them.

 

[Supercharged111]

Last time I had issues with the length of the linkages, I just got junkyard replacements to solve my problem and they did. GM gave them funky bends and God knows how messed up yours are. Best bet IMO is to nab some unmolestered bits from the boneyard.

 

[DennisT]

All good comments and thank you. I have a chance to get to my nearest wrecking yard tomorrow, pending bad weather. It's a 100 mile round trip, but I can include a better-than-heree grocery stop and an evening Lodge meeting, (they can tolerate wrecking yard clothes for once!). There will be challenges.... From many you tube views I've watched, I'll need to find a door that doesn't have the glass interfering. Also, and important to me, I think I have to remove the entire latch through the outer door edge vent pulling the two rods with it???? I'm thinking I'll not be able to unhook those metal rod clips reaching through the inside of the door. Also, I might be able to snag a couple of those little white, plastic rod guides......wonder if they can be rotated and popped out? One last concern: the lock rod snaps into the white plastic, "socket," in back of the inside door handle. Mine pops back out REALLY easily. So much so, that the only thing that really keeps it in is if the rod is firmly retained by the rod guide/retainer. I'm trying to figure out an additional locking method for the rod end.
df: thanks for that diagram link. Every new piece of information is a help.