Reading the OP's post, doesn't a stripped bolt mean having to remove the handle from the outside of the truck? Or did you just knock them out from the inside?

I punched out stripped bolts from inside out. You have to remove door handles to clean rust staines any way. But it is not a problem when inside panels are taken off.

OK guys, I did my rear door handles today. The actual replacement itself turned out to be straightforward, but two missteps resulted in lot of work. I want to post this here so folks looking at this in the future can avoid the issues I had. I want to thank luckyluke again for the part numbers, they turned out to be 100% accurate and it was great to have the right factory parts on hand without having to jerry rig something or go running to multiple hardware stores. Parts were cheap, about $21 total including shipping.

I took apart the panel and sure enough, here's the culprit:



Oh, the instructions of the OP don't mention having to unscrew the door lock mechanism to get access to the second bolt that holds the outside door handle in place. You need to do this or outside door handle will not come off and you won't be able to clean the rust before putting new hardware in.

Unplug this harness and take out the 3 bolts. You can leave the door lock mechanism hanging inside, or you can snake it out. Either works.





Removed the handle from the outside for a full view of the mess.



I too stripped the bolt from the inside. Didn't take much at all to strip it. New parts on the right, stock hardware on the left.



Now, here was my first mis-step. When luckyluke said "I tapped it out from the inside" I thought he meant he drilled it out. So I spent a bit of time drilling out the bolt from the outside and inside. Turns out you don't have to. You can just move the handle and get it out completely with the stripped screw in place, then just use pliers to pop it out of the handle when out.

Here's the before and after clean up. The gentleman who posted the tip about scratch-x was a life saver. It took the rust right off.







A photo of all the components. In hindsight, I would have liked to replace those black plastic trim washers, but I don't know the part numbers and ended up just cleaning and reusing them.



Now, issue # 2. PLEASE PAY ATTENTION WHILE REINSTALLING THE DOOR HANDLE OR YOU WILL GO THROUGH A LOT OF ANXIETY LIKE I DID!!!! See the yellow clamp at the end of the door handle? That needs to be latched against the door lock mechanism's plastic knob. Hard to explain, but you will see it when you undo the door lock mechanism. This will be done right before you screw the door lock mechanism back on the door frame. Forget this and you won't be able to unlock the door! I made that mistake and ended up having to pry out the door panel from the inside to manually release the door and got some scuffs on the interior trim like a dumbass.

I plan to do the front doors soon, will post an update if I encounter anything new there. Overall, a must do, to avoid rust build up underneath.

Ok guys, I just finished the front doors as well this morning. Drivers side was super easy, easiest of all doors. Passenger front was the worst. Absolute pain in the ass. Here's details.

If you watch the video of the girl showing how to disassemble the front door panels, for the 4th gen 4R, you don't have to pop out the power window panels. Just two screws exactly like rear doors and panel pops off.

First, in the front, you don't have to remove the lock mechanism to gain access to the rear bolt of the door handle. Pop this cover and the rear handle nut is accessible, on both sides.



Second, on the driver's door, the lock cylinder is held on in a funky way. Just be careful when you pop it out and back in.




Now for the hard part. Passenger door handle. It has a lot of weird parts that are unique to it, make sure you pay attention to how they come apart. The spring you see in the photo below needs to be mounted the opposite way, took me a while to figure it out. Then the handle needs to be latched against the door lock on the inside of the panel mechanism or door won't unlock from outside. Similar to drivers rear door, somewhat. The clamp that extends from the door lock needs to 'catch' against a specific part of the door lock mechanism.




I'm glad I got this project done, it's been on the list for over a year. Thanks for the instructions in this thread. No way anyone could pay for a dealer or shop to do this, would be several hundred $$ just because of the tricky little bits in how the handles go together.

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We've had a lot of rain in my area recently and I just noticed my handles are leaking rust! Called the dealer for the parts...$44!!! Holy crap. Meanwhile my oil filter is $5... The crush washer is $1.50..Really? how do these people figure their pricing??

Just started to tackle this job today, rust is getting really noticeable under all 4 door handles.

I did one rear door today. took a bit of time to figure everything out. This thread has some good info but there's some critical steps not mentioned regarding the door handle removal and lock mechanism. I'll do a thorough how-to with pics when I do the other rear door next, if anyone is interested. Shouldn't take more than 30 minutes total per door with the right tools and following the correct procedure.

Here's what my broken bolt and nut looked like.

I know this post is old, but it seems a lot of these parts are discontinued. I’ve tried 3 online Dealerships and the order will go through and a week or 2 later they’ll tell me no eta or discontinued.

I’m hoping that the part numbers are superseded?