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Using adhesive to fix broken metal door handle?

P

PCMarine

Diamond Member
Hi all,

A friend's 98 Jeep Cherokee had the driver's interior door handle break. The door handle is metal, so I'm surprised it broke, but the jeep does have 230k+ miles on it. I went to a junkyard to get a replacement, but all they had was a chrome handle when the ones in her car are matte black.

So my question:
Can I use an adhesive (JB Weld, etc) to mend the handle, or will it just snap off after a few uses? If an adhesive will work, what brand would work best? I'd rather just get it welded, but I don't have access to one.
 
I'd use a chrome handle. It's a Jeep with 230k+ miles. You want perfection? :^D

Edit:

What I'd really do is try sinking a bolt into the stub, and use that as a handle. That's the free solution.
 
New handle, dude.

You would have to glue a longitudinal re-inforcing rod along the length of the handle to resist the rotational shearing force applied when pulling on the handle.
And it would have to be on the back side so it wouldn't re-fail at the original break point.
 
Look for a replacement handle.

Buy the chrome handle, sand it then spray paint it with a matching paint (can be found at local parts shop), if you can't get a black handle.

Or buy 2 chrome handles and replace both passenger & driver side door handles.
 
I have never found any glue that is anything but a total POS with metal. You really have to weld it. Even glues rated for metal use suck hairy balls, at least all the ones I've tried. Metal is probably the hardest common material to glue. It's much harder than plastic.
 
Mike Gayner said:
Buy chrome handle, paint black.
Click to expand...

this.

or be ghetto and jb weld it with large nails or other metal object glued in for support. but that's a lot worse than a chrome handle. there's no way you're going to properly jb weld it and have it be pretty.
 
Chrome handle + scotch brite pad + bumper coating / trim spray = win. Spray both handles if the new handle doesn't match the existing one 😛
 
Try your local yard or eBay for a replacement ... its always better that way.

If you're going on the cheap then recommend JB Weld. A few weeks ago my neighbor tried to replace his PCV valve with a non-OEM unit. After replacing the valve he/we found that tthe SUV would run rough at idle and stall. I asked him where the old valve was and was told that he broke the old valve removing it. I cleaned the old valve with carb/chock cleaner and we JB Welded the part back together. Replacing the old with the new the next day we found that it was the new, non-OEM valve that was faulty ... it now ran great with the old, repaired valve.

My neighbor suspects that the repaired valve is stronger than the original ... but he still plans to go buy a new OEM unit.
 
How about getting from the junkyard a PAIR of chrome handles and installing on BOTH doors so they match? Will look like that is how it was supposed to be all along! I just did this for my son's car - replaced both front window crank handles because one broke off this past winter.
 
Since it's a 1998 Jeep Cherokee, you could always to the redneck route...weld a piece of rebar to a bit of steel...good tough door handle. (however, the welding costs would probably be more than a junkyard replacement...but don't let that stop you from being inventive.) 😛
 
You don't weld it to the stub(I'm not even sure it's metal, mine's plastic). You weld it to the latch innards, which are almost certainly steel.
 
SphinxnihpS said:
Welding pot metal... lol
Click to expand...

I don't think anyone (including me) advocated trying to weld the pot metal.

JB Weld is an epoxy...my "tongue-in-cheek" comment would have meant welding rebar to a piece of steel...not pot metal. NO, not a serious reply...but it WOULD work...😛
 
BoomerD said:
I don't think anyone (including me) advocated trying to weld the pot metal.

JB Weld is an epoxy...my "tongue-in-cheek" comment would have meant welding rebar to a piece of steel...not pot metal. NO, not a serious reply...but it WOULD work...😛
Click to expand...

Hehe

lxskllr said:
You don't weld it to the stub(I'm not even sure it's metal, mine's plastic). You weld it to the latch innards, which are almost certainly steel.
Click to expand...

I'm talking about welding the two broken pieces of door handle together, which is quite lol. I assume the handle is screwed to the door, not welded on.

Anyone who suggested ANY glue is equally lol.

These were my only points.

The obvious solution is to find the right handle or paint the chrome one (probably easier than driving to a million junkyards), and had already been stated. I was just posting to help the OP avoid pitfalls.
 
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