FJ40 - lower latch on rear door

[CardinalFJ60]

The rod that attaches to the lower latch on my rear door of the forty ain't attached no more. When i move the handle, only the upper latch releases from that catch. I see two screws/bolts that attach the mechanism to the door, but curious if there are any tips about removing and re-attaching that little sucker. Seems awefully tight in there to easily hook it back up.

edit...and it's still attached at the handle mechanism behind the little trap door...definitely not on the lower part.

thanks for any insight...

 

[corsair23]

My '76 use to have problems with that...My issue was the rod that connects to the handle and the latch piece. Mine usually popped off on the upper part of the rod at the handle. I finally got tired of fixing it and had Ron at RMC fix it right when he was doing some other stuff to the rig.

IIRC you have to unbolt the latch on the bottom of the door, release the rod from the handle, reattach the rod to the bottom end and put it all back together. No real trick to it IIRC

SOR's diagram of the guts of the door:

http://www.sor.com/sor/cat136.tam?xax=5095&page.ctx=cat136.tam