There goes my door handle

[Tehnation]

So I open my driver door, and it felt a little funny, I go do some errands, get back to my car and the door wont open.... now I am realizing what that funniness was, my door handle breaking. 

After wrestling with it I got it out, and I can see that a piece of plastic that pushes down on the lever to open the door broke off. So I need a new handle, I am just wondering how paint works. Do new oem handles come painted or ?? , cause I see one number for every color. 

https://parts.subaru.com/p/Subaru_2005_Legacy-25L-TURBO-5MT-4WD-GT-Limited-Sedan/Exterior-Door-Handle-Left--Front--Outer--Silver--White--Gold--Black--Blue--Green/49261113/61021AG03ANN.html

This damn car is haunted I swear.... i'm not about to go driving around getting in on the passenger side or dealing with whatever nonsense, so I need to get this fixed asap. Would a junkyard be better? I'm thinking old parts will probably fail on me as well, so I should go new. 

[seanyb505]

I'd definitely go junkyard first. It's probably what $5-10? Compared to $50 for oem? I'd be surprised if they came painted. But I'm cheap and sometimes dumb. 

[Tehnation]

I checked car part and called some places.... people are actually selling this thing for 50-100 dollars used in my area.... screw that! Brand new oem is 50 dollars.... guess I have my answer lol! 

And not for nothing, I busted the tabs getting this thing out cause it was just a pita and brittle. I doubt a junk yard will be any gentler, so it probably wouldnt even be a 100%.

My car is black so probably won't bother me much. 

[seanyb505]

Yeah for those prices go oem and rustoleum gloss black lol. 

My local U-pull (LKQ) is $16. 

[jaylew]

Prior owner of mine (over 7 years ago) must have broken the handle too cause mine was not paint matching when I bought the car. I got a paint matching replacement from the junk yard. It's a matter of time on the 05 handles. There is a revision change that makes (def 07-09, idk about 06) newer MY handles better but they are not compatible with MY05 due to different actuation movement.

Just use the passenger side and crawl through the car to even out wear and tear haha!

[Tehnation]

Yea, 05 and 06 are the same, 07-09 is a different part number. 

Actually.... I may just get an entire door. My door has a little damage on it, been meaning to actually grab one from a junkyard.... might make more sense to kill two birds with one stone. Time to make some calls. 

[jaylew]

yeah and if you have the inevitable rust at the folded seam at the bottom, its an opportunity to be picky and find a mint door

[Tehnation]

My car has been through a lot lol, so I think i'm gonna look for a door. 

Banged up the front end, spun out and clipped the rear. Was a bitch to get all my gaps right. I shoulda just bought another lgt and just moved my parts over, but it was a gift from my pops for graduating, I saved some and he put up the rest. So I opted to fix it rather than scrap it. Front clip is done , needs paint or I might just wrap it. I sorta like my shitboxer look. But like I said I need a door, and changing the door handle to change the door later seems like a bad move, especially when I can get a door for like 200 bucks, maybe less. On the phone looking around atm. 

Been focusing more on the mechanical rather than the aesthetics cause no point in wasting more money when the car don't move lol. Its just a work in progress! 

[jaylew]

haha understood! and yeah if you have a pick n pull near you a door should be like $20-$50 with everything still on it

[Tehnation]

I wish I had a pick n pull or something similar near me. We have nothing like that anywhere in the tristate area. Real estate and restrictions are way to costly to run one of these and make profit. 

I'd be willing to drive like an hour each way for one, but nothing. 

[BoozeRS05]

I have a couple options near me for parts picking yards. Been meaning to maybe make a run for some things if I can build up a list. I’ll PM you if it comes together. 

[jaylew]

BoozeRS05, you're in PA right? If you're on the more eastern side I know if a handful fantastic u-pull it yards. When I used to live near philly I would decide on which yard to go to depending on what item I was after haha

[BoozeRS05]

I’m western PA, but travel all over the state somewhat frequently, and yeah I have several solid options within a short drive.

I found a black 05 legacy 5 min from me, but only the door is listed and not just a handle. Door’s only $70 though

I’m looking for better condition rocker covers and mirror caps in my color, which isn’t easy

[Tehnation]

tracked down a door and a rear bumper in black. left a deposit, now I need to get one of my friends in the area to go pick it up for me , junkyard is over an hour away from me. 

Was wondering how the lock switch  and door cards work. Can I use my 05 door card and lock mechanism with an 08 door? Same part numbers for door and lock mechanism it seems.  

Bumper is 225 and door is 150 or 200, i got a choice of 2 going to have whoever picks them up for me put their eyes on it first. 

[Tehnation]

70 

19 hours ago, BoozeRS05 said:

I’m western PA, but travel all over the state somewhat frequently, and yeah I have several solid options within a short drive.

I found a black 05 legacy 5 min from me, but only the door is listed and not just a handle. Door’s only $70 though

I’m looking for better condition rocker covers and mirror caps in my color, which isn’t easy

70 bucks for a door seems right to me.... god I hate this fckin tristate area... everything just costs more, cost of living is way to high, I can't wait to move the hell out of here.....

How much would it be to ship that door? Any pictures? Now I'm curious! I want a whole door, and for 70 bucks for door and handle seems like an awesome price. 

[BoozeRS05]

It’s actually $75 for the door. These guys are not far at all from me, but idk how/if they ship large items

[jaylew]

be aware that is a face lift model. The harness might be compatible without some modifying/re-pinning. So if you swap the whole door then you MIGHT get away with it but I honestly haven't looked into the wire harness differences. I know the 08-09 use CAN for controlling more items but IDK for certain if that applies to the door items

[Tehnation]

I am using my same door card, mirrors, lock, windows and lock controls, key cylinder. The only thing electronic on the door from the later model would be the lock thingy, whats it called, the actual thing locks and unlocks, the actuator or something, and the window mechanism. I mainly just want the door outer shell. What else is there? The lock cylinder I know is the same part for both new and late 4th gens, so that should plug in without a problem. So the only thing I have worry about is the lock actuator and windows mechanism. 

Couldn't get someone to pick it up in time, they close at like 4pm.... so I gotta drive an hour and a half tomorrow morning at the butt crack of dawn to beat all the damn traffic..... 

I already pulled the bumper and tail lights, saw some more damage from the accident, the opening behind the bumper for the vent on my passenger side caved in a little. It doesn't  help with aligning anything and isn't visible. So I will just try and bang it out a little with a hammer. Will show some pictures later.

[Tehnation]

Damage wasn't too bad. I can probably reuse the bumper bar, its bent in some, but the main bracket is fine. As long as the back wasn't pushed in I can work with this. Bumper will cover up all the bad stuff. Junkyard is supposed to give me rear bumper assembly... not sure what that includes will find out tomorrow. I will try to haggle for it cause bumper cover and assembly are 2 different things, I think assembly includes cover and other stuff. 

 

[Tehnation]

10 hours ago, jaylew said:

be aware that is a face lift model. The harness might be compatible without some modifying/re-pinning. So if you swap the whole door then you MIGHT get away with it but I honestly haven't looked into the wire harness differences. I know the 08-09 use CAN for controlling more items but IDK for certain if that applies to the door items

I just took another look, and it seems like the key cylinder is what controls the actuator, so it shouldn't be a problem. So it looks like the only issue at this point would be the window motor wire. If anything I'll just splice it and put on quick disconnects, but I doubt it will be an issue cause its actually the window control panel on the door that does all the work and thinking and that will be the same. 

[Tehnation]

Finally picked up the door and bumper. Bumper came with the brackets and beam and everything, and I got a complete door minus mirror. It is hot as hell outside, will start working on it tomorrow morning. 

[Tehnation]

So I changed the bumper fairly easily.... but this door is a whole other animal. Its to damn heavy to hold by myself and bolt it in, but before I even get to that point I gotta figure out how to get the door off the hinges. The part of the hinge that bolts to the body is blocked by the fender, meaning I would have to remove it, which I have no idea how to do. The other way is to remove the hinge from the door side, but I pulled the bolts on the used door I got and they don't even move, it looks like they are glued, which will open an entirely new can of worms I don't want to deal with, so I am going to leave the hinges I got with the use door in place. 

Anyone know if you can remove/install the door without removing the fender? And if I gotta pull the fender how would I go about doing that? Damnit maybe I shoulda just changed the handle LOL! 

[Tehnation]

Found how to remove fender.... way to much work and its way to hot.... I'll slowly work on it. 

 

921840840_03-FrontFender.pdf

[jaylew]

No need to remove the fender. Remove the hinge from the door (i think) and leave the hinges on the body. I believe that is how i did it, but there is no need to remove the fender. Also a friend the hold the door while you fish the wire harness and thread in the bolts by hand is ideal.

[Tehnation]

I took the bolts off the door, and the hinge didn't even move. There is some kind of sealant or glue on the door and hinge. So I would have to wack the hinge off cause it is on there pretty damn good. Like the door can support itself on the hinge without the bolts thats how stuck the hinges are to the door.