Chinook RV

Last week I finally got around to replacing my rear door lighted handle. I opted to go for a non-lettered handle which saved me about $20. One of the previous owners must have backed into something because it was shattered, but still intact. The replacement came with an LED bulb installed and the parts. There were no instructions but the replacement is straight forward. It was a perfect match except the top metal piece had 2 screws at the bottom and 1 at the top, as opposed to 1 screw at the top and bottom. So I had to drill the extra holes but I filled them with silicone before driving the screws in. That made the installation take a little longer but overall it went quick. I got it from rvandvansurplus.com

Old parts

Always nice to make the "little" improvements. Also nice to have the info and photos for potential future use. BTW, I don't necessarily think the PO of your rig backed into anything. I've seen many of these handles that look "shattered," but I think it just happens to the plastic due to UV/age, perhaps combined with the fact that there may be some internal stress due to the bend.

For a future note, I would avoid using silicone, because it is the devil to remove, and the contaminating residue stays just about forever. Makes it a huge pain to ever get any new caulk to stick (even silicone) and is a problem if for any reason you ever want to paint, etc. Alternatives are butyl tape, polyurethane caulk, polyether caulk, or others.

If I ever replace my handle I will also get the "plain" one. To each their own but I'd actually prefer the non-lettered one.

Good to know about the silicone but I just used it to fill the screw holes, I didn't go around the edges or anything. I have a dent at the top left corner of the door that was definitely some kind of high accident, so I thought maybe the handle suffered at the same time. But it does make sense about plastic aging.

My handle has those craze cracks all over, but I kind of like it as it's like a patina to me.
The light wouldn't work so I started to unscrew that top screw and it was such a tough thing to do that I screwed it back in (about 1/4 of a turn is all I got(, and oila, it ended up lighting! I guess the ground got buggered up.