manfire
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The left door handle on our volunteer fire department M818 truck pulled out of the door. It was not obvious how the handle was retained. Looking at the right door handle showed all the parts intended to retain the handle on the failed side were gone. Missing were 2 dome shaped washers with 5/16” square holes in them and a thin washer with beveled sides and a 37/64”hole in it. All the washers are made from 0.036” steel. Also missing was a short spring designed to collapse flat with each coil nesting into the coil next to it. I found the washers in the bottom of the door but the spring was gone. The spring and washer assembly is intended to capture the outside door handle escutcheon which screws to the door and retains the handle. The whole assembly starting from the outside includes the handle and shaft, escutcheon, thin beveled washer, domed washer (dome out), spring, and the other domed washer (dome in). The assembly is supposed to be retained on the square door handle shaft by staking the corners of the shaft with a chisel. Apparently the staking on the handle failed after nearly 50 years of use.
I replaced the spring and washers with a round steel spacer ¾” OD X 7/16” ID X ½” to 9/16” long tack welded to the handle shaft. From the photos you will see the spacer was made from a scrap bolt, the threads are irrelevant. The new assembly starting from the outside consists of the handle and shaft, escutcheon, and spacer. Leave a little clearance before tack welding so the handle freely rotates inside of the door escutcheon. Fair warning, I burned the paint on the escutcheon a little while tack welding.
An option that avoids welding is to drill a 3/32” hole through the shaft to retain the spacer with a 5/64” cotter pin. The hole in the door sheet metal is about 15/16” in diameter. The original design has nothing but the shaft projecting into the door but there is room if parts project into the door a little. A stack of 3/4” OD washers could be used to make the spacer but you might need to enlarge their ID. I would prefer a 3/32” cotter pin with a 7/64” hole but the bigger the hole the weaker the shaft, you decide.
I replaced the spring and washers with a round steel spacer ¾” OD X 7/16” ID X ½” to 9/16” long tack welded to the handle shaft. From the photos you will see the spacer was made from a scrap bolt, the threads are irrelevant. The new assembly starting from the outside consists of the handle and shaft, escutcheon, and spacer. Leave a little clearance before tack welding so the handle freely rotates inside of the door escutcheon. Fair warning, I burned the paint on the escutcheon a little while tack welding.
An option that avoids welding is to drill a 3/32” hole through the shaft to retain the spacer with a 5/64” cotter pin. The hole in the door sheet metal is about 15/16” in diameter. The original design has nothing but the shaft projecting into the door but there is room if parts project into the door a little. A stack of 3/4” OD washers could be used to make the spacer but you might need to enlarge their ID. I would prefer a 3/32” cotter pin with a 7/64” hole but the bigger the hole the weaker the shaft, you decide.