Posted by: DudesRT

06/07/2005 04:55PM

Hey, thanks for the comments!! Hope all goes well with the painting ofthe door handles. I just clear coated mine and the look great with VERY little prep. you should make yourself known on durangoclub.com. Hope to see you on the forums!!

Posted by: daktrkrcr01

05/23/2005 10:02AM

Here you go on the painting of the door handles same as Dakota Dodge Dakota Door Handle Painting The door handles on our Dakotas, like the rest of the truck are tough, rugged, and built for service. Unfortunately, they are also ugly, black, textured plastic. This article will give step by step instructions on how to remove the handles, properly prepare them for paint, paint, and reinstall them to give your truck a custom, smooth look. There are lots of good products out there for painting plastic and probably just as many preparation procedures. The materials used for the plastic preparation shown here are primarily Bulldog brand from Klean-Strip. Additional info on this product line can be found at http://www.kleanstripauto.com/products/plasticprep.html. These should be available at your local automotive paint supply store or online. Try a google search and pick your favorite vendor. The techniques described here are those used by Versatile Industries, a professional automotive refinishing company with decades of experience. They are continuously tracking the condition of the first set of Dakota handles they have painted. In over two years of service on a daily driven truck there has been no evidence of peeling or cracking of the paint. I personally have had the tailgate handle done over six months ago and it looks as good now as the day it was done. Special Thanks to Kevin at Versatile who laid down Patriot Blue on these handles. If you like to remove your own handles, disassemble them and send them to Versatile for painting, give Kevin a call at 317-894-1345, he�ll fix you up. OK, That�s the set-up, let�s get started. Tools Required: Small straight blade screwdriver (1/8�) Regular straight blade screwdriver (1/4�) #2 Phillips screwdriver Torx T-25 Torx T-30 Cotter key extractor or other hook tool 8mm wrench 8mm socket with �� drive ratchet and 6� extension Pliers The rear doors are slightly simpler, so if this type of work is new to you, I recommend that you start there to get familiar with the procedures. If you don�t have rear doors, read through this section anyway, as it provides some of the basics. The section which follows describes the operations unique to the front doors. Remove Rear Door Panel 1. Remove the 2 phillips screws at the bottom of the door panel 2. Remove the T-25 Torx screw behind the pull handle 3. Remove cap, and the T-25 Torx screw behind the interior latch handle 4. Now grab the door panel by the pull handle and the bottom and slide straight up about 1�. This will disengage several plastic hooks and you should be able to pull the panel away from the door, about 3-4�. There are a few remaining connections that you will disconnect in the following steps to completely remove panel. Start by disconnecting the rods for the latch and lock handles. Look closely at the plastic connection at the end of the each rod. You will see a small barb holding the rod in the slot. Press up on the barb with your thumb to free the rod, then lift the bent end of the rod up out of the hole. Repeat for the other rod.

Posted by: DudesRT

09/01/2004 05:54AM

Oh yeah, if you want to paint the door handles you'll need to bring it to a professional shop. They usually scuff the surface and then apply a self-etching primer for use on plastics. Then, spray them with your base coat (color), then apply clear coat. It's a multi-step process. If you want to just protect them and prevent the chalky build up you can sometimes get from waxing, you can go to a local body shop supply store and ask for clear coat in a can with UV protection. Then mask off the doors so only the handle is exposed and sray a coat or two on them. This will give them a semi-gloss appearance. Sorry for the long post. :-)

Posted by: DudesRT

09/01/2004 05:49AM

The D looks great!! Nice to finally see a few females on this site! If you want to keep the "R/T" look but get bigger rims, try a 20" version of your 17's. I have them in silver on my R/T but they're available in chrome as well. Check eBay as I see them all the time there. Hope this helps!! (www.durangoclub.com)

Posted by: ThrashersRT

03/14/2004 08:58AM

love the d. i just took mine truck to my normal paint guy and he put some stuff on them so the paint would stick.