Just look what you guys are doing to me. When I bought my 4Runner I thought chrome was awesome. I loved the chrome accents on my SR5.
Well- it's almost all gone now. Notice anything different?
Today, my friends, was a humbling experience for me. Taking things apart doesn't bother me because I can usually figure out how to put it back together or fix it if I break it. Today had me a bit concerned. Lemme tell you about today.
Woke up with a slight headache. I had planned on Plastidipping my door handles beforehand so I took some Excedrin and went at it. I figured I might as well take all the handles off instead of masking the truck, plus it was windy and in the 50's today. Not painting weather. Taking the handles off is easy anyway.....
Took off all 4 door panels and removed the door handles. Cleaned and prepped the handles for paint. Headache getting worse.
Painted the handles and end caps with Plastidip. Paint fumes are not good for an aching head you know. Head splitting now, but I'm committed at this point so I took a little break and a nap while the paint dried.
Fast forward 1 hr. Ready to re-install! Door handles back on, door panels back on. All done, right? Let's check to make sure everything is working properly.
Passenger side rear door. Hmmmmm. Will not open. When I pull the outside handle I can feel a vibration, like something isn't hooked up correctly. No worries, try the inside door handle. Child lock is on. Reality sets in. The door is shut and will not open. The door panel is on. No possible way to open this door! This is great.
At this time my head decides it can't take this added stress and completely gives up. BAM! Migraine. So bad that I had to throw up- twice.
So- I pull my sorry ass back into the house and take one of my wife's magic migraine pills (I rarely get them) and try to relax. Mind you, I am PISSED at myself for letting this happen.
Fast forward another hour. Headache is manageable. Let's figure this out.
SO I had this 4" holesaw and I drilled a hole in the outside door panel.
First I took out all the childseats so I had room to work (PITA)! I took the 3 screws out of the door panel and was able to pull the top out enough to get my hand into the door. Good start. Problem was, my hand didn't have eyes.
Back to the driver's side rear door. Took it all apart AGAIN. Took out the door latch assembly to see how it worked. Let me just say that the child lock mechanism is confusing as hell. It won't release until the handle is pulled in a certain order- I don't even want to go into it really. Anywho- I figured out I needed to pull up on a metal bar on the latch to get the door to open.
After some serious squirming, which had me thinking I might just get my arm permanently stuck in the door -Bingo- passenger door opened.
Turns out, the door latch assembly (which you have to move out of the way to get the rear handle off) has a metal stud that fits into a plastic fork that is actuated by the outside door handle. Mine wasn't lined up properly so the handle wouldn't open the latch. I know better.
IF YOU TAKE YOUR REAR DOOR HANDLES OFF, MAKE SURE THE OUTSIDE DOOR HANDLE ACTUATES THE LATCH PROPERLY BEFORE YOU PUT EVERYTHING BACK TOGETHER!!!
What a damn day. Don't they look nice though?
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