The International Cessna 170 Association

Is there such a thing? lol. I had to remove both door panels today in preparation for my new airtex panels. I was trying to use a small screwdriver and a little pick. Those little buggers can be challenging to remove. What do you guys use?

There is such a tool available on the cheap at auto parts stores. I'd send a photo, but I haven't needed mine in about 6 years, and after my move I have no idea where it might be.

A door handle spring clip tool like this one is available at many auto parts stores. You must determine which direction your clip is and use the tool to push the clip out. The slot in the tool needs to be wide enough to clear the slot and thin enough to fit into the door handle slot yet narrow enough to catch the clip tangs. Once you have the door handle of you can easily make a tool out of aluminum sheet stock.

I personally use a hooked pick.

A shop rag. slide it between the panel and the handle. pull rag around the shaft and it will catch the ends of the clip and pull it out. No special tool necessary.

canav8 wrote:A shop rag. slide it between the panel and the handle. pull rag around the shaft and it will catch the ends of the clip and pull it out. No special tool necessary.

But, it's an opportunity to buy more tools. How can you pass that up?

canav8 wrote:A shop rag. slide it between the panel and the handle. pull rag around the shaft and it will catch the ends of the clip and pull it out. No special tool necessary.

You know what I need to do. Get out my door handle retainer clip removal tools and put a note on them to use a darn shop rag. This way I can justify keeping the removal tool around.

Thanks for the suggestions guys!

Never heard of the shop rag "tool", but sounds good to me. I used to use a small, flat blade screwdriver to , hopefully, push the ends of the clip out of its slots. Later I found, as Bruce said, that a small pick with a curve or "L" on the end works fine. Mine came from Harbor Freight Aircraft Tool Supply. Best of all the picks come in a set of 3-4 different end styles and they are GREEN

canav8 wrote:A shop rag. slide it between the panel and the handle. pull rag around the shaft and it will catch the ends of the clip and pull it out. No special tool necessary.

OOOOOOOOOHHH....... I LIKE THAT!

(I have the "tool"...but it is a real trick to use even when you know how.)

I couldn’t get the rag trick to work so I made a tool from a scrap of .032” aluminum.