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Another A0 door handle and latch option.

Ronmar

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After a little measurement I came to the conclusion that Toyota door handles from a second generation(90-95) Toyota 4runner will cover(barely) the existing A0 door handle holes. Those from the 3rd gen(95-04) should also fit. The fronts have locks, the rears do not. I opted for the rear handles as I plan on electric lock actuators eventually.
The handle goes in with only a little cutting and leaves most of the original hole’s rolled edges. I have been running Toyota trucks and 4runners since the 80’s and am absolutely confident that these handles are far more robust than the OE handles.

The holes have little steps at the ends top and bottom. I had to cut back the upper ones about half way(red arrows). Had to remove the recessed metal where the OE handle screw went at the forward end of the hole and the cross door support by drilling out the two spotwelds(red circle). Then I cut out about 1/4” of the lower edge as shown. I fabricated a rear bracket from angle and box tube, I will put up a pic of it when I take it out to paint it...
 

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Ronmar

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Port angeles wa
My truck came from auction with the handles and inner and outer latch assemblies stripped. After pricing several hundred dollars of hardware per door and known issues with the original spec handles, I started looking at other options in the auto and big truck world and stumbled upon these latches. The issue is you only have so much room in the door opening for length and thickness of latch. This latch(made by tri-mark) fits in the available space and appears very robust...

https://youtu.be/giNuR36f7nY

1B055564-5EED-4F9B-809D-062F233BA146.jpgD539958E-5806-4892-8203-3054CAAFE2AB.jpgDFECE603-858C-4CAB-91B1-59803F2AFC4D.jpg
 

pontiac62

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battle creek, mi
Great work on the handles.

Curious what your backup plan Incase your remote unlock doesn’t work?


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Man of few words

M1081 LVAD
 

Ronmar

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Port angeles wa
Curious what your backup plan Incase your remote unlock doesn’t work?
Thanks. There are lots of options for a backup unlock. You provide unlock power to the circuit via a reed switch and use a magnet thru a known location on a panel. You place a hidden switch. You route the wiring to an exposed location so it can be accessed and external power applied ect...
 

Ronmar

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Location
Port angeles wa
I mocked it up with the rods I found in the door to get the dimensions correct. The final install uses Toyota rods and clips pulled from the junkyard donor vehicle and bent to match the mockup rods. They are very slightly larger(.125” vs .118”) in diameter than the original LMTV rods.

46A50196-4B26-49ED-A61E-C5B6BE93E6E1.jpg
 
Last edited:

BERZERKER888

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Daytona, FL
I mocked it up with the rods I found in the door to get the dimensions correct. The final install uses Toyota rods and clips pulled from the junkyard donor vehicle and bent to match the mockup rods. They are very slightly larger(.125” vs .118”) in diameter than the original LMTV rods.

View attachment 770964
And which donor vehicle did you use?
 

Ronmar

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Location
Port angeles wa
And which donor vehicle did you use?
2nd and 3rd gen 4runner. I think that is 90-2004? The 1st gen Tacoma, 95-04, also uses them. They are pretty robust, I am probably one of the few to pull any out of a junkyard:) as they always seem to be in every door. I used rears without locks as they require less cutting to fit, but the front handles with locks will fit without too much difficulty…

These particular latches need to have the locking lever added(L shaped plate with pivot hole in the corner) to allow them to lock…
 

Ronmar

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Location
Port angeles wa
Any chance you can take some pictures of the install..I know not easy

Or post a video..you have some outstanding content
Not quite sure what you are looking for, it wasn’t much cutting and a dremel with a fiber cutoff wheel did it easilly. there were 2 rivets/spot-welds to drill out on the inner door skin(circled in the first pic). the first two pics on the initial post in this thread pretty much shows a before and after of the door opening cuts. It really isn’t very difficult…

I have another to do at some point, but I am deciding if I am going to just replace the door first. I can probably do some better pics then…
 

Mullaney

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Ronmar did post a few pictures of the install on a FaceBook LMTV/FMTV group.. but it appears they are no longer accepting new members , thus I have not seen the pictures..
.
It took a little more work, but Broke Overland replaced his door latches with the locks like you see on a truck toolbox or the door on an old Astro95. Cost a lot less than the factory latches and considerably more robust.,,
 

Mullaney

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Broke is a madman Indeed...funny as sh*t as well
.
A while back, I discovered that he has a regular Website.
That site lists what he has done and the steps to get there and some cost figures too.

Sooo much easier to find something there than YouTube too!
Especially if you are looking for part numbers and where to order.

For sure, funny and willing to really share and show that everything isn't perfect every time!
 
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