Cheapest place to buy OEM exterior door handles?

1996 Tacoma, passenger side is broken, drivers side has small crack. Been babying it, but I'm on borrowed time, and that would suck if it broke too. Is there anything cheaper than the $90 ones I've been able to find so far? Thats nuts for a plastic door handle! Or is there any decent aftermarket one thats worth a try?

Also, where can I buy the clips that hold the panel on and stuff? People always say to have extra because you always break them, but not sure where I would buy them or what kind to get.

Thanks!

 

Clips from dealership, I managed to snag a driver side outer door handle on ebay for 70 shipped. Those non OEM ones are not worth the trouble. Maybe contact @gunny1005 or check ebay.

 

I bought doorman aftermarket after looking at the OEM compared to the doorman,, maybe a little better who knows, still plastic, maybe a different China man putting it together,, BUT the biggest culprit is all the mechanics involved it has to work, linkage, door lock, and door jamb lock (?). That's a lot of leverage put on that plastic be it OEM or aftermarket.
I took all mine out and lubricated it, all of it, put it back together and it works smoothly for about 2 years now. I took the passenger side off , which is still OEM, cleaned it up and lubricated it before I trouble with it, works great.
my 2 cents.

 

Go OEM. Had a bunch of Tacoma company trucks. We quickly learned it was cheaper and less hassle to stick with the OEM.

 

OEM door handles are no better than the cheap aftermarket ones. Once you look at one and see how chincy they are all made you wouldn't waste the money on a $90 one because it has a Toyota emblem on the box when you could get one from rockauto or Amazon for <$20.

 

Got mine from a junk yard online. Fresno Tap Recycling, OEM, real cheap and very fast shipping. No complaints, works great.

 

I had bad luck with an aftermarket one.

I got my OEM replacement from https://parts.toyotaofdallas.com/

 

Thanks guys! Ordered an OEM driver's side from Amazon for $87. And a cheaper one for the passenger side, just couldn't justify $160+ for both door handles right now. Figured that one doesn't get used near as much with me anyway.

 

I'll second removing the door jam lock or what ever it's called, the part that actually holds the door shut. It's not that hard to get out if you take the bottom bolt out of the window track. I cleaned mine up real good, and lubed it. I can now open the door with my little finger, almost no effort. Before doing this I just replaced the outside door handle with an OEM one and thought I was golden. Well it only lasted a few months. I didn't want to break another $90 one so I got a cheep, (like $10) one off Amazon. Cleaned the mechanism this time, and the $10 one has held up fine. Been almost two years now.

 

Thanks for the tip! I replaced the passenger side handle Saturday, as it was the broken one anyway. Did as you suggested and pulled the door latch out. Sprayed it with carb cleaner to get the gunk out of it, and then relubed with white lithium grease. Opens super easy now, though I do baby it. Definitely not the same quality as OEM, feels way cheaper. But for the passenger side it'll do just fine I hope. Cleaning the latch also helps the door to shut super easy now...no more slamming the door, shuts super easy.

Gonna do the same thing with the drivers side, hopefully should be good for years to come then.

 

I've had good luck with Ebay or Amazon door handles... Both my OEM ones snapped, my current ones have been fine so far =)

 

I've gotten OEM ones on Amazon. I usually just add them to my watch list and check to price once in a while. I've seen them fluctuation from around $50-90. Seems like one side is usually more expensive than the other, I can't remember which. From my experience, I'd rather have used OEM handles from a partout than new eBay knock offs.