"Oh S!*T" handle came off. How to fix?

So my buddy was a bit "sloppy":cheers::cheers::cheers: and put his entire weight on the handle above the pas. door to "pull himself up in" hi swords no mine lol.
Needless to say it came off easier than he/we expected, and we had a good laugh whille he got up off the ground.

One of the torx bits will still tighten the handle to the roof. The other just spins so it's stripped. Thanks a lot PBR and JB lol.

How would I go about making a repair, and preferrably making the handle stronger and able to bear actual weight, not just a hanging arm?

96 XJ AW4 np231

Can you get jack nuts in there?

solomon7 said:

making the handle stronger and able to bear actual weight, not just a hanging arm?

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The handle is not meant for a full grown man to yank on (there's a joke there but I'm leaving it alone)...

You could retro-fit it with a handle from say...a marine store and screw it on with self tappers. Stronger, not Jeep, but stronger.

Yeah, just plastic backing part there. Hmmm..., I used a gob 'liquid nails' to 'buttress' the connection, on both sides, and it seems to work ok, but not for weight lifting. Btw: Took six months to set up firm.

My handle broke when a 5 foot 110 pound girl tried to get into my truck. Ever since then, she hates my truck. I drilled out the hole and tapped it to take a larger bolt. It now holds up to 110 pounds, but I wouldn't want a 200 pound guy pulling on it.

johnnyc said:

I wouldn't want a 200 pound guy pulling on it.

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That's part of the joke!!!!

The stock screws are tiny, like 5mm. At the very least I would upgrade to some 1/4 steel nutserts.