How to add grab handles to the roof?

rh96ss



Posts: 299
Join date: 2009-02-26
Location: Port Orange FL or in the air


PostSubject: Re: Entry/Exit Differences   Wed Apr 08, 2015 11:59 am Select/Unselect multi-quote Reply with quote
you can always add the overhead grab handles to a wagon, I did.......

Found this response to a post with a entry/exit question and would really like to know the 'how to' on doing this mod to my 93 Caprice wagon. My mom really needs a roof grab handle to assist in getting in/out of the wagon. I looked in the factory service manual to see if they had included a schematic showing the metal structure above the doors and had no luck. What years/models had the grab handles, neither of the wagons I've seen in the yards here have had the handles but both were pre 94 models. Do some of the sedans also have the handles?  
 I should also look into adding handles onto the 2000 Grand Caravan but those are plentiful in the yards to look at the roof structure.

It's a nice idea for us old geezers. My wife wants one. If I recall, some of the upper models, like Buicks had grab handles for the rear passengers. There is a heavy beam above the door to attach them to.

Dave

The Roadmasters are the only B-bodies that have grab handles. You need the screws, and the speednuts. You have to lower your headliner, and make sure the holes are there for the speednuts. The handles should be available in every interior color, because the Roadmasters came with all interior colors. What color is your interior?

I got a set of blue Roadmaster handles to add to my '92 Customer Cruiser, but never ended up putting them in. I really like the handles on my '96 Roady wagon.

My '96 has them above the rear doors and the front passenger door. I believe the 94-95's also had them above the driver's door too. Need to add on there on my car one of these days.

Let the salvage yards be your friends!

-Mike

The front and rear handles should be the same, although the rears may have a light.

Fred Kiehl wrote:

The front and rear handles should be the same, although the rears may have a light.

The light is separate from the handles. My OCC had the light, but no rear handles. The light is attached to the coat hangers, and sits next to the handles.



-Mike

Mike ,did you get the screws and locknuts with those handles "HINT HINT"?

Flasheroo wrote:

Mike ,did you get the screws and locknuts with those handles "HINT HINT"?

Got the screws but not the nuts. Didn't know if they were already up there on my OCC. I CAN however grab some next time I go yarding, though I'll have to dig through the parts stash to find the handles now. Ha!

-Mike

Thank you kind sir!

Flasheroo wrote:

Mike ,did you get the screws and locknuts with those handles "HINT HINT"?

The are speednuts, not locknuts. They are available at the local parts store as well, but less expensive at the junk yard.

Waiting to see if 81x11 can install the handles easily or if the mounting area isn't there on his OCC. I need to mess up my headliner finding out just like I need another hole in the head. Looked on Nalley GMC and it looks like the 92-96 Roadmaster had the handles but not the 91 so Buick may have altered the sheetmetal stamping for their 92-96 wagons. Of course, the diagrams don't give any indication.

The metal should be there. The holes for the screws might not be. The handles screw to the same piece as the courtesy lights, and it extends forward to the A pillar.

just me wrote:

Waiting to see if 81x11  can install the handles easily or if the mounting area isn't there on his OCC.  

You need to re read the posts,. and notice the 'past tense' being used,...

Looked in list of cars and the OCC isn't there anymore, he made it sound like has both in his first post but the list clears it up. Anyone have photos of a 93 Caprice inner roof above the front door without the headliner?

Fred has explained this to you,..

all 91-96 b-body wagon shells are the same,.

The two holes per handle are there,..

you need handles, speed nuts,. and bolts,.

Thank you Nick.

Knowing it is fine, but seeing it is better. Sorry if I offended phantom (did you actually manage to give a damn?) but I would like to be able to judge the structural strength of the mounting area above front passenger door (mom is not a lightweight) without tearing my wagon apart. Wagons are few and far between in the jyards local to me so a photo of the area is the quicker way.

If the RMW has enough metal they all have enough metal. THEY ARE ALL THE SAME.

Easy,Fred...Dont wanna spike that blood pressure.

you haven't offended,. more like amused,..

you want to assess the structural integrity,................roflmao!!

Well i hope you can get a handle on this mod,..

Andebe wrote:

Easy,Fred...Dont wanna spike that blood pressure.

I do not have blood pressure unless I get it from someone else. A good spike for me is 120 over 60.

Reading the chain, you're correct I no longer have my Custom Cruiser. I miss it, but like my Roady better.

As for the grab handles, they are more a comfort item for trips, and not really meant to life yourself out of the car. They're plastic, and not mean to support that much weight.

-Mike

lakeffect wrote:

THIS would work nicely... and provide a needed secondary function.

Couldnt repurposed side pipes work as well?

Hmmm, a rollbar would work too. I wasn't planning to use the plastic handles, rather something sturdier but with added bracing behind it. If my mom decides to go back to Indiana (her father's family was there from mid 1800's) on a bit of land in Dearborne county then the wagon would probably have to be sold, in favor of an actual truck with 4x4 and one of those seats that rotate out the door and down. I don't think she'll move for at least a couple of years, though, which is good because I don't like driving from a high seating position.

Phantom posts have disappeared from my screen days ago so if it appears that I'm ignoring him, I have been.

aw man,.
i had a feeling,...

and you hurt it,..