Morris Minor Owners Club

hi all just stripping down 4 doors for renovating having a pig of a job to get the handles out of the rear doors everything else has come out ok.

it seems that everytime you lift the handle up and the plate the hook gets caught it seems that the hook is oversized to come out of the hole ,now I know one of you clever lot will hopefully tell me were Iam going wrong

cheers keith

Keith,
Haven't done one of these for a while, but I think the latch needs to be in the unlocked position. This way the hook moves when you move the handle.
As I said, it's been a while but give it a try.

thanks scott will give it a go and let you know how I get on

Keith,
I had been putting off repairing my floppy O/S/R door handle for ages now but your question has prompted me into action.

It doesn't matter if the latch is locked or unlocked as the 'hook' is operated directly by the handle.
Remove door trim
Remove door handle escutcheon (chrome finisher)
Remove the 3 countersunk screws holding the handle (rear face of door)
Remove the 2 screws holding the latch mechanism (inside face of door, where the door trim covers)
Move the latch mechanism down/forwards (only has to move approx 2cm)
Remove the door handle assy. The handle must be in the fully closed position to enable the hook to clear the door.

See how you go now.

On the subject of floppy handles, can anything be done to tighten them up, or do they just get replaced?

My font near-side one rattles about and occasionally a bump in the road will jolt it enough to pop the door onto the second latch. Needless to say, this does nothing for passenger confidence!

Ben

I think this is down to a broken spring within the mechanism.
This might help
http://www.morrisminor.org.uk/
If you go to the section on door handles it shows the parts.

Normally the spring doesn't break but simply comes out of its location. the 'leg' of the spring fits into a groove which then is peened over to hold the 'leg' in place.
In my experience it is a case of removing the handle, cleaning out this groove of 40 years of dust/grime, levering and pushing the 'leg' into the groove then re-peening the surrounding metal over the 'leg'.
99% of the time this is successful. In the worst case, a small plate might have to be made to hold the spring 'leg' in place in this groove, but I haven't had to resort to that yet.

Benjy,
It shouldn't be possible for a floppy handle to self operate the door latch. It might be worthwhile lubricating the latch slider & applying dry lube to the striker plate to ensure the latch is fully engaing. Some times when you think the door is shut, the latch still might not be fully enagaged. With a bit of wear, this can easily make the latch pop onto the secondary catch.

Some times when you think the door is shut, the latch still might not be fully enagaged. With a bit of wear, this can easily make the latch pop onto the secondary catch.

I second that - I think this can also make the door handle appear floppy, as the latch is held partly open. (from memory - so I may be wrong)
Is the handle also floppy when the door isn't sut? If there is a difference it may be down to the door/latch/strikerplate alignment.

This guy has an EXCELLENT article.. (alas i couldn't actually get the handle out of the door) he said to move the window channel slightly to give yourself room.. try as i might i couldn't get enough room to pull the handle out so I think i'll have to undo the entire window channel assembly and pull it up and out..

http://www.christran.net/mmhandles.htm

still haven't been able to get mine out!

I'm trying to replace the drivers door lock.. i had some [Don't swear or you will be banned - Admin] rifle through the car over the weekend emptied glove boxes and threw apple around..

I have tried twice now to get the handle out.. each time i get to the stage where i need to move the channel.. i can move it slighly but not enough to get the handle out.. i wonder if it's worth removing the glass!

It's easier if you remove the rear channel altogether.

Hi Scott,
by rear channel do you mean the chrome channel closest to the door handle? ie undo the top and side screws and pull that whole channel up and out?
Cheers,
Tom

Yes. There's bolts further down too.
No need to remove all 4 screws from the top corner area. Just 2 will do & the angle joining piece will stay with one of the channels.

It can be tight to lift the rear channel all the way out. You might need to remove the bailey rubber (between the glass & channel) from one or both vertical channels to allow the glass to move forward..