Door handles for sliding doors

Door handles for sliding doors that are breaking all the time might not be the real problem. Here is an example of that from a recent customer

We need your help about door handles for sliding doors. It's hard to get a straight answer from our hardware store and I hope you can point us in the right direction.

We have a mortise style sliding glass door with handles that keep breaking. This is due to our teens, and that our doors appear heavy and don't roll real smoothly.

I've replaced the handles with the #449- Wood Sliding Glass Door Handle by Barton Kramer because the metal continues to brake in the same place.

Additionally, we don't like the difficult and finicky lock system. There's so many choices, how do we find one that works well for our family?

We ask your advice for a more heavy duty Sliding Glass Door Pull Handles, 6 5/8 in. hole centers. Please advise

Hi Eric;
Your experience with this door handle for sliding doors reminds me of a story about another customer.

I got a call from a lady having a hard time opening her door and breaking the same handle you have trying to open it. When I got to her house.

I could feel how hard it was to open the door so I convinced her to let me change the rollers on the door as well as do the sliding door handle replacement.

Sure enough the rollers had seized long ago and the wheels were actually wearing flat from being forced open so long. I got the new rollers on and changed the handle and showed her how the door should only need 1-2 pounds of force to open and close.

She was over the moon with happiness and I left the job and got about 30 minutes away when I received a frantic call. She was so used to having to muscle the door open she pulled on the handle and the door flew so fast it hit the opposite jamb and  jumped right off the track!

So I turned around and headed back to get the door back in the track again.

Sliding patio door handle replacement

Yes this sliding patio door handle replacemnt is not great, there are other choices and I have enclosed a picture. There are four choices all of which are different variations of the same crap. They are all brittle magnesium cast metal. At least yours has a nice wood handle. None of them stand up to much force.

The C1090 is flatter so its harder to break. Its meant to be low clearance so it does not get in the way of drapes and venetian blinds. But then your fingers are much closer to the door and easier to get them pinched in the door when you close it.

This sliding patio door handle replacement works great if the door needs only 1-2 pounds of force to open like its supposed to.

When you look at the track at the bottom of the door are there scratch marks all along it ? Are there divits in the track from where the rollers sit ?

I am willing to bet that the rollers are the problem here not so much the sliding glass door handle.