Has anyone seen a chrome tailgate handle for a 1984-88 for sale anywhere? I know that I have tried a few times, and all I can see is black or chrome for the 1989-91.
i've seen that few guys say that the later model ones work with the lever actuation, and just need to overdrill one mount hole, so I am getting one, and will post the results here.
yeah, i did some looking into the mechanism, and it looks like they just switched from 2 pieces pivoting like a scissor to 1 piece rotating, but has mounts for the linkages to both latches.
So I went ahead and did the swap. Not direct, but not tooo much effort. One main difference is where the linkages meet up, here is the new chrome and the old black: The new one has a single pivoting piece, where as the old one has a scissor tyoe mechanism. And as we have read before, thes, the mounting holes are about 1/8 of an inch narrower, so a tid bit of geinding is due, but then the results are great: The linkages for the Drovers side reach, but needs to be bent a little, then the connection is a bit tricky because it is behind metal, so i did it before tightening down the handle. opens and closes smoothly, i would be happier if it was metal, not plastic, but whatever.