Plymouth Suburban

[John Miller3]

How do you fix door handles on my 1951 Plymouth from sitting like this

[Plymouthy Adams]

95% of the time they are just full of crud and dried grease.  Remove  the latch mechanism and thoroughly clean and apply new lube...make sure the three return springs are not broken...these are what align and lock  the rotor....even with some noticeable wear on the rotor, this will also tighten the latching action as it removes free play caused by the springs not able to push the rotor down due to the crud inside...if your rotors are truly shot, they are replaceable.

[John Miller3]

I am going to pull it all out this weekend.  This car sat in a field for atleast 10 years prior to me getting it.  Thanks for your advice.

[Dan Hiebert]

Ditto PA's guidance.  Our D24 had this issue when we got it (except that for one door the rotor was completely missing), a good cleaning and lubricating brought the handles back to horizontal.  I know of some folks that look at that and deem the shaft twisted, thus not repairable, which 99.9% of the time is just not so. 

[Plymouthy Adams]

as an added...this cleaning will take a bit of time and effort...that dirt caked grease is rough to remove...I soaked mine in kerosene, usually a great solvent for grease, barely phased it.  You will also need to insert the handle to use to agitate the grease while in the solvent to aid in loosening it all up.  Don't quit early, long life after this action is what you need...you will see why when you find how involved it is to remove and reinstall the latch....your outer lock also has to be removed as it threads is own square hole in the mechanism.  The inner locking latch lever  is quite long and on most of these is removed at the forward assembly and rod will stay with the latch....cleanliness and fresh grease is the key...you will notice a lost of wear and grooves cut on the inner side of the rotor...this is common dut to the three finger springs....the outer rotor condition is what latches the door, inner removes the play in the door rotor...don't let the design scare or fool you......

[chopt50wgn]

Don't know if you can see the door handles well enough here. But I found that 29-30 Model A handles are an exact match for the bolt spacing and used them instead. One has an up curve on one side and the other side a down curve, but the handles are tight and don't droop. The only thing I had to do was shorten the square drive shaft and they were a bolt on.

[pflaming]

That is a beautiful car. Your modernizing has really enhanced the lines and the unique rear fender which disappeared in '53. 

[chopt50wgn]

Pflaming………………...Thank you

[Don Colliau]

I found that if they are not too far out of wack that the shaft can be bent to line them up parallel to the body.