Door handle threads

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  • May 6, 2015 at 3:53 pm #391335
    Author nameAuthor names are only available to PAS members.

    I ran into a problem as I was dismantling my door handles for repair and plating. The escutcheon plate that has two screws to hold the handle to the door, is held on by a tubular nut that is staked to the pot metal in the handle.

    This nut sits in a recess and has only 2 castellations in to unscrew it. A couple of my handles had broken the pot metal threads by having to use too much force to get the nut loose. (I ended up using a punch and hammer to overcome the staking.

    May 6, 2015 at 4:03 pm #412697
    Author nameAuthor names are only available to PAS members.

    Here is an assembled handle on the right and a disassembled one on the left. If you think you can save the threads and want to retap, they are 5/8″ X 24 TPI. My nephew is a gunsmith and that just happens to be a common thread in gunsmithing.

    Parts identification on the handle on the left, from inside out, is Handle proper with a 5/16″ square shaft, escutcheon cover plate, escutcheon inner plate (later cars have these two parts cast together) and tubular locking nut.

    May 6, 2015 at 4:11 pm #399658
    Author nameAuthor names are only available to PAS members.

    While the shaft is 5/16″ (.313 along the flats) it is .410″” diagonally. I went to ACE and in the lamp parts drawer were several threaded nipples and nuts that had a .360″” ID. The one on the left has a flange and ID thread and the one on the right has a smooth bore and OD Threads.

    I used a 5/16″” triangular file and filed flats in the ID of the tubes 90 degrees apart. In the end you have a square ID hole. This was a trial and error process sneaking up to the pint it would fit over the shaft.”

    May 6, 2015 at 4:20 pm #399659
    Author nameAuthor names are only available to PAS members.

    Next, I hacked the pot metal with the damaged threads off at the point the threads ended. (see arrow in pic) I sawed parallel to the flats on the shaft and stopped when I hit the steel. Do it on all side then the corners. I used a chisel to split it off the shaft.

    Then push the new nipple over the shaft until it bottoms on the handle and glue it in place with Liquid Steel or some other steel or aluminum filled 2 part epoxy. I would not recommend trying to solder, weld or braze the sleeve on. I guess you can drill and pin it or use your imagination how to keep it in place.

    May 6, 2015 at 4:27 pm #412698
    Author nameAuthor names are only available to PAS members.

    Getting back to the 5/8″ X 24 threads, discussions I had with others kind of lead us to believe that they used such a fine thread due to the lack of strength in the pot mental. Reassemble is the reverse but you may have to fashion a thin washer to put between the escutcheon and the retaining nut to give a better contact surface.

    In the picture above the handle has both the original threads and the new threaded nipple which will take the place of the original threads once they are cutoff.

    Nipple and nut are below

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