Exterior handles plastic? metal? both?

[Caman96]

I have other deterrents to prevent thieves, one being a GPS tracker that’s not hard wired, good luck finding that gizmo.

 

[mars2878]

Well then I’m confused, because aside from my 2 front left/right NOS handles that part numbers are confirmed fitment for my regular cab, I also got a 3rd handle that has a hole for lock. Looking it up GM 15725921 on gmpartsgiant.com confirms it as a rear handle for TahoeSuburban and it has a key hole. Weird, cause even the little sketch appears to have key hole drawn.

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Disregard the part number on plastic piece in photo, the 15725921 is under the plastic part.

Another example:

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That's misworded.
That is for the barn door.

 

[Caman96]

That's misworded.
That is for the barn door.

It’s not miss worded. I misread its meaning. It is for the rear door. I mistakenly interpreted it as a rear passenger door. Reading through post already showed I came to the correct conclusion.

 

[Ward]

Pot metal.

95-99 handles are pot metal and every single one of them will crack eventually. You can identify them because they are textured.
88-94 handles are smooth. They won't crack. Retrofitting them is an easy task. You'll have to rotate the newer cylinder to fit into the older style handles and take the pawls on the back off and flip them. I put 92 handles in my 96. I wasn't going to buy another set of pot metal handles only to have them crack again.

 

[tinfoil_hat]

Another thing that will help you is to replace all the plastic glides and elbows on the operating rods. I bought a "universal" kit from Oreilly and believe it or not it had everything I needed plus some extras I have since used on other vehicles.

 

[someotherguy]

Yeah, it would be more difficult, but if handles were “blanks’ and battery goes dead, now you can’t even open you hood. In the end, there’s a workaround for every scenario I guess. Like smashing glass.

Opening the hood from outside on a GMT400 is fairly trivial even when the release cable has broken. I've done it.. and it took me all of a couple minutes to work out.

Last time I tried that on my truck I only managed to disconnect the handle from the latch, unfortunately. Locked or not, no one is opening that door from the outside.

Thieves go in by damaging the handle and door sheetmetal. With the handle out of the way, the rods and clips are irrelevant. For sure if you care about not damaging your truck, it can be tricky to mess around inside the door to unlock it. Unless you have a basic lockout kit that a wrecker driver might carry. I don't like "inside the door" tools for the reason you mentioned, and others, but going through the door to unlock is pretty easy on most vehicles. Or as I'd done a few times when the battery croaked on my '94, to reach through and pop the hood (unrelated to my other comment about popping the hood from outside.)

95-99 handles are pot metal and every single one of them will crack eventually. You can identify them because they are textured.
88-94 handles are smooth. They won't crack. Retrofitting them is an easy task. You'll have to rotate the newer cylinder to fit into the older style handles and take the pawls on the back off and flip them. I put 92 handles in my 96. I wasn't going to buy another set of pot metal handles only to have them crack again.

All GMT400 (OEM) exterior door handles are pot metal, and all of them will potentially crack. I've seen more than a few of the early smooth handles crack, but as I mentioned before, far more of the newer ones. The smooth handles that I've seen broken were usually on very high mileage/abused work trucks.

My main point: a lot of times we view the security of our trucks through the eyes of an owner. We don't want to do things to get in that might cause damage. Remember, thieves don't care.

Richard

 

[454cid]

Thieves go in by damaging the handle and door sheetmetal. With the handle out of the way, the rods and clips are irrelevant.

That's how that handle got scratched. When I first bought the truck, I lived in an apartment complex. Someone tried breaking in, possibly not knowing what they were doing. The sheetmetal wasn't touched, just the handle. Could be someone pulled in the parking lot, and scared the would be thief off, too.

For sure if you care about not damaging your truck, it can be tricky to mess around inside the door to unlock it. Unless you have a basic lockout kit that a wrecker driver might carry. I don't like "inside the door" tools for the reason you mentioned, and others, but going through the door to unlock is pretty easy on most vehicles.

The only other option is an airbag isn't it? I've always hated that idea, for fear of the door frame being bent. I have enough wind noise already.

 

[Caman96]

There’s a few different things going on in this thread. One was using keyless handles just for supply and the other as a deterrent. I’ve already acknowledged a thief will get in regardless. I just personally feel a keyed handle has more pros than cons. For me anyway, and hope GPS tracker does it’s job.

 

[Caman96]

Opening the hood from outside on a GMT400 is fairly trivial even when the release cable has broken.

Mines not broken, and I’d prefer to not break it, especially if I’m not carrying tools. My key or key fob just works better.

 

[tinfoil_hat]

Going back to the original issue of the lock motor being too weak to unlock the doors...
Swapping the door handles isn't going to do anything. The motor doesn't work on the handle at all. It's moving the lock knob and the lock core and it uses the op rods to do it. Clean and lube those pivots, replace the plastic keepers as I mentioned earlier.