I can’t get this stupid knob off my door to replace it.
On my front door (of my new place) is a lever-style exterior door handle. It is “LSDA” brand, which I had previously thought was a type of lock rather than a manufacturer, but that’s the only name the appears anywhere on the knob. It has faceplates on both sides, so no screws are visible.
Typically, you remove these knobs by taking off one of the handles, removing the faceplate, and then unscrewing it. BUT…
The interior handle has no lever or hidden pinhole or any other visible mechanism for removal. The exterior handle had a pinhole, which if pressed while the key was turned 90 degrees released the handle off the cylinder. That allows you to remove the bevel plate. But then below that there were no screws!
So I am at a loss as to how to access the screws, which are apparently on the interior side, since I don’t know how to remove the interior handle.
Does anyone know how to remove this type of handle? Or, alternatively, is there any way to more positively identify the model of lever lock so I can find manufacturer specifications?
[I think this is a factual question, but feel free to shuffle me off to IMHO is necessary]
A picture would help, but once you have one handle off, you might be able to just pull the other one off. Try wiggling it slightly while pulling it firmly. (And keep your mind out of the gutter while following those instructions!)
I forgot to take a photo before heading in for work, but I will try to post one later today.
As for wiggling the other handle, I’m pretty firmly convinced that it isn’t going anywhere by force even with the other handle off until something else happens. I tried very firm tugs with various wiggling and orientations of the lock buttom, as well as rotating it to see if it unscrewed – all to no avail.
Did the lock cylinder stay on the outside portion after you took off the handle? If so, that probably needs to come off before the inside handle can be removed.
Can you pop off the interior face plate? Even though it won’t come off completely (since the handle is still attached) it may give you access to some screws.
I can get it off about 1/8th of an inch. But I don’t see anything I can screw or press in the space. There are three little cutouts where the faceplate bevel attaches, but I don’t see anything obvious in the little slots that I can manipulate. Certainly no screws.
When you get home, try inserting something in from the outside (like a metal punch, or very thin screwdriver) that can contact the rod to which the inside handle is attached. Then give that a few sharp taps with a hammer. I still think that once the outside apparatus is removed, the inside handle should slide off.
You might even try something like holding in the latch when doing this, as that might have some releasing effect.
Set screw. The OP says there isn’t, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea to look once again. Those little buggers can be damn hard to find sometimes! However, if there is, my previously recommended method should work.
I apologize for the poor quality. We just moved in, so I don’t have access to either my camera or my desktop, so these are unedited phone pics taken in the evening – so they’re not the clearest ever. If we haven’t solved it by the weekend, I’ll take some proper photos.
The first shot is the interior handle, showing the maximum gap I can make at the faceplate. You’ll notice on the left side of the picture at the faceplate there’s a little gap, but it’s where the face plate snaps into.
The next two shots are the inside handle, and the final two are the outside after I removed the handle and faceplate.
Look directly behind and right up next to the handle, there should be a small pin hole. If there is, you can unbend a paperclip, stick it in while wiggleing the handle. After it depresses, pull on the handle while leaving the pin in the hole. After it starts to move, pull the pin out.
You still have some part of the lock cylinder on the exterior. I would try to take more of that exterior stuff off and free up the rod that connects to the interior handle.
Also, how did you end up taking the exterior handle off first? Usually that comes off last, since you don’t want someone on the outside to be able to do that. Perhaps if you put it back together, and do whatever you did to loosen the exterior handle, and use that to loosen the interior handle.
Something is out of whack with the disassembly sequence.
Commercial-grade knobs like this often have an exterior handle that can be removed with a key (hence the need to turn the key in order to use the exterior pin slot). Not sure why. What you see on the outside isn’t the lock cylinder as I understand the term, but just the shaft that is turned when the lock cylinder is successfully rotated.
But as I posted above, I solved it. Just wanted to give people a chance to guess before the big reveal (mainly my buddy). I’ll post the solution tonight.
