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Is it possible to exchange the buttons (with lock mechanism) from front door handles with the door handles from rear doors?
I have a pair of door handles I took from a 4 door parts car and plan on taking the lock/pushbutton mechanism out. -The chrome on these door handels is a little better than what I have on my car now. Anybody know if this is possible or not possible?
Thanks forum!
Mike

The 55-6 outside door handles, 461616, Rt and 461617, Lt are the same front and rear so should be possible to swap buttons as long as everything internal & different associated with them are also transferred. There are some differences in detail parts. Same holds true for 51-4 although handles themselves are different from 55-6.

Since you removed your extras from a parts car, you know the drill but a word of caution for those not having had the pleasure if these handles have not been off in some time.

The original retainer plates are hard tempered steel so have a tendency to rust and break very easily. Apply penetrating oil all around the internal area liberally coating anything they are contacting maybe once or twice allowing soak time before attempting removal. Try particularly hard to get in the slide slots top & bottom and behind retainers. Even that's not a guarantee but fortunately new ones are available. IIRC they are about $100 for NOS pairs and only slightly less than that for repros. The repros are of different material so not as prone to rust.

Also on 4 door models, every door clip is unique to it's door position. So if you need to replace any of the clips, you need to make sure you get the correct one as they are not interchangeable.

Update on the door handles...I was able to exchange the driver's side. I sprayed it with WD40 a week before I took out the spring/retainer, and it came out pretty easily. The mechanism fits and works, and the retainer clip also fits, BUT, i noticed the profile of the handle near the button where it mates to the stainless belt mouding is not exactly the same...
Attached a pic of the handles and 'exploded view' of internal parts.
-and my machine turned door lock knobs

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Interesting and no clue why the profiles are different. As you can see, parts book says the same. 30.326 is front and 30.450 is rear.

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The diference is pretty small, and since an untrained eye sees pitted chrome, and it takes a trained eye to see this difference, these handles win out.
This is the little gap I was talking about between the handle and the trim.

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Wonder if the replacements might have been replated at some time and the shop went a little heavy on the polishing?

Quote:

Your replacement handle may be from a 1955-56 model. They look almost identical to the 1951-54 type but do have a different profile at the belt moulding.