Hi,
I am trying to replace all exterior door handles in my 1997 Toyota Camry. Three of them are badly damaged. The problem is reaching the bolts inside the door to rtemove them. One of them is reachable, the other is not. Any ideas? Also, I am working the rear left side door. Is the front door similar. I guess it may be different due to the lock.
I don't have enough money to let a shop do this, so I must be able to do it. Please help!

Dary

I had to do the same thing on both Corollas that I've owned. I had to enlist my 10 year old son (with 10 year old sized hands!) to be able to get to those connections!

Toyota was kind enough to put a 1" black round plug directly in line with the bolt you need to get at. Just pop it out! Then all you need is an extension on your 10mil. Go easy on those plastic clips that hold the rods on. Pry up gently.
Have fun saving money!

I looked through my referenace material and it doen't show what I'm talking about but I can tell from experience having done 100 or so of these door handles front and rear, that I have only used ordanary tools to get them out and 'some' have a clear plastic or black plasic plug covering access to the bolt.
Having 25 years experience with working on Toyota's, I have never found their design to be hard to get to. And I have very large hands.

I just went out and looked at my 1998 Camry, which is the same as yours. The door panel must be off to see what I'm talking about here. But I'm not going there :)
The newer body style ('02-'06) does in fact have it on the outside of the panel because the door handle changed.

On a side note, because of the red box you have given me for "just trying to help", I am now quitting helping ANYBODY on this forum with ANY problems with their car if you come in here with just one post.
If you have a reputation with this forum, I'm glad to be of service.

You can just thank yourself for ruining it for everbody in future. 'Nuff said!

I don't know anyone who is more knowledgeable about Toyotas then kitch428! If he tells you something, you can take it to the bank. His experience is awesome. We are fortunate to have someone of his caliber helping us.

One thing I must add now that I've calmed down a bit, in doing either door handle the front is definitely easier than the rear, but both doors need to have the rear window channel removed.
The front is a piece of cake. One nut up top of the channel, and one bolt at the bottom on the side. Just separate the window run strip and pull it out. This opens up a lot of room to work at getting out bolts mounted to the handle.
I like to put the key in the door lock cylinder so I can leave it attached to the handle and swing it out of the way when pulling it out.
Now the rear door is tougher. Same deal. The window channel must come out but parts of the door have to come off too.
I'd leave the rear door for the shop to do, but I'll leave an attachment so you'll get an idea of what I'm talking about. See what a nice guy I am? Is that a little more accurate answer?

Attachment 9655

The follow up answer by Kitch428 did indeed helped me complete my work. I did it without any additional problem. So "accurate" is the word which defines his new response. Excellent follow-up from a gentleman and a scholar.

One additional advice for those working in tight places. I used my digital camara to take pictures of the interior of the door and was then able to interpret more precisely the drawing furnished by kitch428.

Good going brother K. A reliable source in AMHD.

Glad things worked out and thanks for the kind words. I see you left a message and I tried to respond there. You need to change you profile settings so a PM can be sent if you'd like to stick around AMHD.
The trouble is here that many posts show up asking a very basic question with very little info to go on.
Yours however, gave a good question that should have been answered more accurate.
That being said, you were new to the site with your first post and most people just ask and are never heard from again. So I tread lightly.
After a long hard day at work, even my co-workers say why would you go to all that trouble. Well, some of us are different aren't we?
The red box is a disagree in your profile and counts against your credibility to help others.
Kind of like negative feedback on eBay.
It's not really THAT be a deal here, but when I see that, well, you know, you saw my reaction.
Have a good day and enjoy that Camry. It's a really great car! Feel free to ask me again at the help desk.

Was researching replacing the handles on my 96 camry. Came across this and thought that it was very helpful. kitch428 the front were easy enough but once I got to the back I had to refer to this again. Once I figured out what to take apart and how it was not difficult at all. The main thing on back doors is to take the lever mechanism off and getting it out of the way. Of course little hands help. Also pull the child safety lock plug out and you can access the second bolt on the handle easier. Just make sure you don't drop the bolt. Took me twice as long as it should have. Thanks again guys. I replaced all four outside door handles in five hours with very little toyota experience.

Congrats on that! Even basic Toyota techs agree, the rear ones are a b*tch.
Once you've done a few... well now you know.

A note to others... buy a $4 telescopic pocket magnet. Great tool to have in times like these.

I'm about to tackle this job but want to educate myself ahead of time so I don't have to figure it out in my driveway during our Chicago winter (cold hands and cold metal make a simple job much more complicated). So I'd like some clarification on terms. What exactly is the rear window channel referenced by Kitch428 and the lever mechanism referenced by Jdsdad? Are they the rear side frame and the window regulator in Kitch428's attached diagram? Thanks, Steve

On both front and rear doors, if you get the window channel out of the way (this is what the glass rides down on), it will help to getting at the bolts that hold the handle to the door.
Also helps to prying those clips off the (lever mechanism) rods.
Don't mess with the regulator.
You can leave the lock cylinder in the front door and turn with key while wiggling out, or you can unbolt it and leave it in the door.

You also need a Torx T30 screw driver, socket driver, or bit to remove the locking mechanism from the door. I didn't have one and tried to work around this for way longer than I should have.

I'm trying to do both rear outside door handles on my '98 Camry LE. I can get to the forward bolt as described upthread. But access to the rear bolts eludes me. The only 'plug' in that vicinity is covering the child lock. I've unscrewed that latch assembly, but cannot move it enough in any direction to get to the last bolt. Any advice would be appreciated.

Vudutek,
I struggled with the rear bolt for a long time until I just broke down and went to Home Depot and got a T30 socket driver for the bolt holding the locking mechanism to the door. Upon removing that bolt, the whole assembly can be moved so that rear bolt is much easier to access. Like I mentioned before, I spent way more time trying to get to that bolt than I should have.
Good luck,
Steve

Steve,
Thanks for the reply. I've got the t-30, and removed the 3 screws holding the lock mechanism. But I can't get it to move enough in any direction to get to the rear door bolt. As was suggested in a previous post, did you have to remove the door glass and door glass run in order to get enough room?

I do recall I removed a window channel which was kind of hairy at first but ultimately wasn't a problem. I think I removed a few screws and slipped it out of the way. I did not have to remove the glass. Just moving the part in which the glass rides was enough. The window was up though. Hope that helps. Sorry I can't be more descriptive as it was last summer.