The aft side door on the old Greenbrier had for years been opened from the inside with a pair of Vice-Grips because the splines had been slowly worn away and a regular door handle would no longer do the job. Although the Vise-Grips were completely functional and did the job exceeding well, a vote was taken, and, you guessed it, they had to go.

        This particular latch assembly is rather difficult, if not impossible, to find in good condition. A window regulator for a front door was located and used for the donor spline.

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The Vise-Grips served us well for many years being both stylish and functional, but as you can see, there was no hope for recovery.

The old spline was removed from the door latch assembly with a hack saw.

The new spline was also removed from the window regulator. The cut was made at the step in the shaft on both splines. 

From the step out the splines were exactly the same length.

The new spline was beveled in order to allow a little more surface to make the weld a little stronger. 

The new spline was clamped in place. Make sure surfaces of the spline and the shaft are nice and flat. It makes clamping much easier. 

They were then welded together. The weld really didn't need to be cleaned up in this case since the handle slipped on all the way. It's all out of sight when to handle is in place.

The door latch assembly was reinstalled and works like new....or good used!