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I've not yet had the misfortune of a broken handle on the T/A, but we had a corporate A-body wagon with the same handles. Broke in the same manner as yours, I believe. If I'm right, you will find that the pot metal tab that captures the spring on the back handle has broken off. There's no way to fix it that I know of (given the pot metal material the handle is made from).
I have not seen the back of a 3RD GEN door handle, so I do not how how feasible
this might be. I use Quick Steel Epoxy Putty, now and then. It set up quickly and is rock hard. One would need to scratch up the metal surface(s) to aid bonding.
I'm surprised there isn't more on this when searching the forum. But there's not much.
I found, expanded, and added arrows to this photo I found here, to try and show the staked (as I recall) pot metal tabs that held that spring down on the handle.
What happens is those cheesy, flimsy little tab/s break off and then the spring falls down as shown above. If those are OE handles, i would just JB weld the end back on. There is probably one of the two tabs still there to help locate the end in place. I fixed mine that way years ago. As mentioned, repros are even bigger POS's.
I have not seen the back of a 3RD GEN door handle, so I do not how how feasible
this might be. I use Quick Steel Epoxy Putty, now and then. It set up quickly and is rock hard. One would need to scratch up the metal surface(s) to aid bonding.
I FINALLY removed my door handles, for a vehicle paint job. I reattached the spring to the frame, using Quicksteel. I cleaned the area 3X with CRC Chlorinated (the good stuff) brake parts cleaner and blasted it w/ compressed air. I am confident it is attached better than the four "tabs" from the factory.
Agree with trying to repair your original. I can remember my handles seemed to be waaay tighter when it was new than they are now. They currently have about the same slop now as new repros are IIRC.
I haven't looked closely at them yet, but I would love to be able to rebush them. However, I don't think it will be that easy. I don't think the think the pins ride in a hole.
The pins are tiny though, like 1/16 dia. and there isn't much room/material for a bushing unfortunately. Personally, I don't feel they're worth a rebuild unless you wanna improve on the design.
It might be worth a try if anything to make it better than a Dorman. Other than the wear on mine, they still function well. I would imagine they are on the verge of breakage.
