You ain't the first, and you won't be the last... you'll get it out. Check here.
I doubt you’d have the same opinion if it was your Jeep that you entrusted to someone else.
The door check arm, when disconnected to accommodate door removal, etc., can retract inside the door, particularly if the door is closed carelessly.
gotta love 550 cord! I always have some laying around.Here's my previous post on pulling the detent. You can use a shoelace.
So I was just happily wiring some radios into the jeep, and had all the doors and tailgate open as I was going in and out.
Unfortunately, today was the one day of the year that my father decided to do yardwork, and he came out off the garage blowing an enormous green, gritty, cloud of pollen and dust before him, into me, and directly into the back of the jeep.
Much swearing and running around slamming doors shut, but I forgot that I had the passenger-side door unhooked to open wider. I slammed the detent back inside the door with crunchy crunch noises.
Since I've never remembered to share it before, here's how I normally pull them back out. No wacky tools, no aggravation, just any bit of cordage you have laying about:
Take a cord and put it through the detent bolt-hole, then tie a loop at the end:
Put the loop over the hook that the door check attaches to, then loop the free end around it as well:
Close the door upon yourself as much as possible, pulling in the slack on the cord, then loop the free end once or twice more around the hook:
Push the door all the way open while holding fast onto the free end of the cord, and the detent will kachunk back out as you do it:
If it doesn't pop all the way out the first time, close the door, pull in the slack, and do it again.
Super easy.
I hope this saves someone the money, anger, or effort that I see spent on weird tools, locking pliers, and zero leverage. In the meantime, two of my neighbors just started mowing and blowing their lawns, so I guess I'm not meant to be out here right now.
