Hey folks! I've looked and looked and couldn't find anything that described how to disconnect the door handle and door lock from their rods. I need to remove them from my donor doors and I'm afraid of breaking these clips. I've tried everything I can think of to disconnect the plastic clips, but no joy. Any suggestions? Thanks for any and all help!

 

they basically twist off - one way. if you look at it, the parts that wraps around the rod, doesn't wrap all the way around it, so you twist it off and then the rod slides out. simple.

however, there is a warning that comes with this ... they sometimes dry rot. they can literally disintegrate under your finger and since I've never actually had to buy a replacement, I don't know off-hand where to source them.

EDIT 1: for clarity, that's how to deal with the one in the second photo. I can't recall dealing with the one in he first photo.

EDIT 2: looking closer at yours, you're probably screwed. they look rotted.

 

in the photo you have, push straight down, and the plastic will rotate, push where there is an opening in the plastic around the metal rod, and the plastic will rotate around where the metal bends

Hard to explain, hard to figure out to figure out, easy if I could show you

In your 1st photo, the plastic is so far gone, just use brute force, there is no plastic to save there. I use a gob of RTV sealer at the end of the rod to hold it in place. Ya, it is kluge, but it works.

 

actually, yes, it helps to push the rod in while twisting the clip. just like what Midnight Mechanic said. it won't move much, but it will move just enough.

also, I started looking for clips online. so far nothing Mazda-specific, but I did find a few at Amazon, some of them were Toyota-specific, so that's promising. if you can measure the rod diameter, then it may help you out better.

Amazon.com: mazda door lock rod clips: Automotive

also, the chain stores (Autozone, Advanced, etc.) had them listed, too, but of course when you put in for an Rx-7 it says nothing fits. so again, you may be able to find something listed for another car that fits.

 

Thanks guys!

The door handle is the first pic above and I tried to be careful but it gave up the ghost.






The yellow clip goes to the door lock cylinder and I was less than gentle and twisted and noticed it's a split compression fitting.







It came out but I'll prolly have to replace it, so thanks for the links! You guys are awesome! Thanks for the help!

 

And with it out of the door. The other side was already broken too, so I'm guessing it was only a matter of time for this door handle.

 

More bueno the second time around!

 

FYI - the door handles them selves are not side specific meaning tyou can use them on either side, just flip them around when installing.
The clips are mostly generic to any of the Mazdas at the time and you can probably find them on B2000 and b2200's as well as 929, 626 and MX6's.
If all else fails I have some from cars I have parted as well as the door handles themselves if you end up needing them. I always tell people to just lubricate the heck out of the handle spring before reinstalling and then swap the handles - using the other hole. You save having to buy a new handle that way.

 

First off, always use some lubricating spray when you are working on stuff like this since its so old. Spraying the thing down will make removal so much easier and takes some of the stress off the parts themselves to avoid breakage.

I know you have them out but for those coming late to the party, basically you just need to rotate the yellow or whatever color clip, upwards and off the rod.
Once the clip is off the rod, the rod itself will push out.
again, made very easy if you use some PB Blaster or WD40.
Takes all of 2 seconds to remove clip and rod.

Don't attempt to remove the grommet in the handle itself until you have the handle out of the car, otherwise you will risk breaking the "loop" on the handle that the grommet goes through.

 

Excellent advice wahootee, thanks! Lubricating spray would have helped immensely.



Better late than never! I appreciate all the help I get from the experts on this forum. It really has been a great resource for me along the way.

So, I'm assuming you are talking about the yellow clip on the rod connected to the door lock, not the door handle. Using the picture immediately above, I'm not sure how I would rotate the clip upwards and off. The pic doesn't really show it, so (and this is just for my own edification so that I know I'm repeating your advice back to you so I know I understand - I'm oversimplifying for myself (see my tagline under my avatar - village idiot)) looking at the rod for the door lock from the side and describing what I see as I look from the left to the right, the yellow clip surrounds the rod, then without covering the entire circumference of the rod (only the bottom)follows the contour of the rod as it bends 90 degrees downward, covers up the bottom of the rod, follows the other side of the rod upward, to where it ends in a tang, basically forming a split cup (for lack of a better term) around the end of the rod. The tang end of the clip prevents the rod from engaging any further into the hole of the armature attached to the door lock cylinder. I hope that makes sense.

Now, I tried to rotate the clip around the arm but it didn't budge. I tried to pry the tang both towards and away from the rod while pulling up on the rod with very little success. Eventually, I had to pull very hard and pry the tang for the rod to move, but I cannot remember if I pried it away from the rod, or towards the rod, but it did pop on out of the armature, which has a perfect circle for the rod and clip to fit into, so rotating it would have done nothing for me, except to maybe loosen the clip in the hole, but maybe that was enough and lubrication would have helped even more?

That's the best news I've heard all day! I will look into replacing these as they a) are old, and b) got the begeezus worked out of them when I took them out. Nice to know the handles are not side specific. I still have the others from my rusty doors, but if they break I may send some business your way and take you up on the offer of new to me door handles, so thanks Wahootee!

 

Once you disengage the yellow "clip on" part of the fastner from the rod, rotate it (the clip on part of the yellow rod) up (or down or out of the way I can't recall) and out of the way. The rod will still be connected to the handle as it remains inserted through the hole and yellow fastner in the hole.

Then push the tip of the rod backwards out of its hole in the yellow fastner. The clip stays with the handle and the rod pops free. The "clip on" part is what keeps the rod connected to the handle.

To reinstall, simply push the tip of the rod back through the yellow fastner at the hole and once in, flip the 'clip on" part back down and over the rod, locking it in place.

Hopefully that clarifies it a bit.

 

Makes perfect sense, thanks wahootee!! I checked it out on my donor door and that clip came right off. I didn't understand how that dang thing worked until I read your reply and saw first hand. Thanks so much!!

 

Glad to be of service. good luck with the project.

 

It's hard to explain how the clip comes off aye hahaha. But once you do it, you're sat there thinking "was that really it??"

 

That's the key. Your first instinct is to try and push or squeeze them out together, but you need to push on only the metal to get it out of the plastic.

I've swapped a couple from side to side but a couple weeks ago my drivers side broke and I didn't feel like messing with the other door panel and plastic sheet under it. So I made a little repair brace from some old steel bracket I saved from something.
I tied it on in 3 or 4 places with wire from bread ties. Sorry, I forgot to take a photo of it twist tied in place.

 

That's where I got off track. I tried to remove the rod and clip from the lock cylinder at the same time. I was working on the wrong end the entire time thinking that the other end was solid around the rod, somehow installed that way from the factory and couldn't be moved as I couldn't see the entire clip... I prolly ought to invest in a small telescoping inspection mirror.


Funny you mention it, that is EXACTLY what I thought!... Followed by, "I'm such a dumbass"....


That's pretty cool! I'm not skilled enough to make such a nice looking bracket. Looks like it works well. Very ingenious!

 

On a side note. I didn't realise you guys had different door handles over in the USA/Canada market