99 Extended Cab Rear Door Stuck Closed

[ednpatty215]

Hi, newbie here and tried some searching but had no luck, I recently purchased a 99 Sierra 1500 Extended cab which has the rear door on the passenger side with the handle inside the door jam, its stuck closed and the handle does not function. My question is whats the best way to tackle pulling the rear panel off to acces the linkages inside the door while the doors stuck closed without busting the panel up. Also whats the most common thing to look for as to why the linkages no longer work? Thanks

[peterarch]

Lemme at it with one of the hurst tools off my rescue engine, aka "jaws of life" hahaha, ill have it open for ya in no time

 

I had a 96 yukon at one point where the linkage inside the door failed only for the inside handle though, so i was still able to open it up and repair it, idk how easy itll be to get the panel off still in the truck

[scott 730]

Had the same thing happen to my 99 years ago. I got lucky. The actuating rod came disconnected from the upper latch. Wasn't too hard to trip the upper latch after prying the panel back a bit.

[ednpatty215]

I have the small handle access panel off and have it down to knowing its the lower linkage thats stuck I was able to work the upper one loose, but have had no luck in getting the bottom and have been yanking on it pretty darn good I have a set of long nose vise grips clipped on the rod to pull with. As for getting the main door panel off does anyone know if theres any screws holding it to the rearward edge of the door thats the only place thats still holding it pretty tight, like its screwed down vs the install clips the rest of it had.

[VTJosh]

Been awhile since I took mine off but iirc theres a small screw inside the cup holder and the rest should just be clips