Almost lost the Tahoe today...

[Doubeleive]

Yeah, I like to fix things myself too, but insurance was paying and there was a lot to fix inside.

I have had the door lock busted a few times, luckily they stopped there most of the time either due to the alarm going off or they got scared off for whatever reason. when they do that it's not worth even trying to do a claim, just fix it and carry on.

 

[S33k3r]

In case anyone cares... I just heard back from my mechanic that my first truck is now getting new shift linkage, as that, too, was damaged by the would be thief. We've also had to replace the steering column section that holds the ignition cylinder, because the thief punched all the way through. Yay.

I turned in my second truck to the mechanic on Monday, and hope to hear what is required on it, tomorrow.

 

[Sam Harris]

In case anyone cares... I just heard back from my mechanic that my first truck is now getting new shift linkage, as that, too, was damaged by the would be thief. We've also had to replace the steering column section that holds the ignition cylinder, because the thief punched all the way through. Yay.

I turned in my second truck to the mechanic on Monday, and hope to hear what is required on it, tomorrow.

Do not like.

 

[DougAMiller]

In case anyone cares... I just heard back from my mechanic that my first truck is now getting new shift linkage, as that, too, was damaged by the would be thief. We've also had to replace the steering column section that holds the ignition cylinder, because the thief punched all the way through. Yay.

I turned in my second truck to the mechanic on Monday, and hope to hear what is required on it, tomorrow.

Need to return to 15th century punishment!

 

[DougAMiller]

Well, I ordered a used door handle off ebay today to get all of the critical dimensions from. I really think I'm going to do this, because I just don't feel comfortable parking the Tahoe at work anymore. This is the design so far, I just need the door handle to fine tune some of the features and get accurate dimensions from. Then I'll get a quote on it.

 

[S33k3r]

What are you going to make it out of -- steel or aluminum?

 

[DougAMiller]

What are you going to make it out of -- steel or aluminum?

I'm thinking probably 7075-T6. I was originally thinking of doing it in steel, but then realized that the door skin will probably push in long before this will give and that aluminum should be more than strong enough. Since aluminum will cut faster, it will also make it cheaper to machine.

 

[mattbta]

I'd be interested. I've currently got an unpainted handle on there from when my Tahoe got broken into in San Antonio back in2017. I stayed at the Westin Riverwalk and apparently the valet garage was full so they parked it on the street like 6 blocks away. Fortunately nothing was in it and they didn't try to steal the vehicle. Prolly junkies.

The roached the sheet metal, but I decided to take the cash from the valet company, the free stay + points from the Westin and only spend $100 on a new handle, lock cylinder, jimmy jammer and keying.

 

[DougAMiller]

I was playing around with the online quoting today, and 1018 steel would increase the cost by about 50% over 7075 aluminum. If I order 25 in aluminum the price drops to around $75 each. They can also do a clear or black Type II or Type III anodizing for a few dollars more per part. Since they are going to be painted to match I'm not sure how much benefit anodizing would offer, but a black Type II might be nice to do. Once the handle arrives from ebay and I finish fine tuning the model, I'll see about getting it quoted locally too. I've got a couple of contacts that might do a little better on the price than the online.

If there are any body and paint experts on here that want to weigh in on whether to anodize before painting or not, I'd welcome the advice.

 

[S33k3r]

I was playing around with the online quoting today, and 1018 steel would increase the cost by about 50% over 7075 aluminum. If I order 25 in aluminum the price drops to around $75 each. They can also do a clear or black Type II or Type III anodizing for a few dollars more per part. Since they are going to be painted to match I'm not sure how much benefit anodizing would offer, but a black Type II might be nice to do. Once the handle arrives from ebay and I finish fine tuning the model, I'll see about getting it quoted locally too. I've got a couple of contacts that might do a little better on the price than the online.

If there are any body and paint experts on here that want to weigh in on whether to anodize before painting or not, I'd welcome the advice.

Something just occurred to me on this, and I figured I should voice it before you get too far into it: How hard will it be to simply pull the whole assembly out of the sheet metal of the doors? Sorry if this is a dumb question, and i apologize for being negative. But I am very interested in this.