I tried to pull off what's left of the broken crank handle and it wouldn't budge. So I used a simple pry bar (with a towel behind the bar to protect the door panel). The first thing it did was snap off a 1/4 of the remaining round nub. With a little more finesse I was able to finally get it to pop off.

When I moved on to remove the rear window crank (the one I was switching out with the broken FR handle) it popped right off. So at least now I can get cross ventilation in the front seat without breaking my wrist twisting that ugly nub.

Still waiting to hear back from the parts supplier if their "charcoal gray" replacement handles are the same color as my stock gray ones. Mine are much lighter than what I'd ever call "charcoal."

Thanks again, all.

CJ

 

I was having this same issue. I have a '96 Cherokee and needed to take off the window crank to access the door handle. Like discussed here, THERE IS NO CLIP. It is a snap-off crank. Even after figuring that out, it was a **** to take off. Here’s the key to it: A hair dryer. after an hour of working on it, trying to pull it off, I decided to heat it up with a hair dryer. 60 seconds later, with little to no effort it came right off.

 

One of the [issues] with Prying against a 20yo door panel, to lever off a plastic handle is ... the door panels lose their integrity and break up quite easily. Especially if the pry tool has narrow point of contact against panel [ask me how I know]. Ruined several door panels, even with modest levering.

Now, can anyone say with certainty if a later year XJ Panel will fit an earlier ? I know that the doors strikers require jabbing to swap. How about just the door cards / panels ?

Thanks ...