So suddenly yesterday I could no longer open my passenger door from the outside. I took the outside handle off and found that the plastic ring broke, that pushes on the lever to activate the latch.

First of all, it seems idiotic to make a part like this out of plastic! But that aside, can I replace just the plastic part, or do I need to buy an entire outside handle?

that is the slider piece is obtainable and costs about $10-15 from any of the specialty 914 vendors. Google it,914 door latch cam, or get it as a WTB as well; Pelican sells it for $10

http://www.pelicanparts.com/cgi-bin/ksearc...mber=PEL-DR-CM1

Awesome, thanks man! I didn't know what that piece was called.
Just ordered it from Pelican!

914 rubber has them too! http://shop.914rubber.com/door-cam-actuator-914DCA.htm

It is made of plastic so it will break before the expensive metal handle breaks.

I just replaced mine. It lasted for two door openings then broke again. Something else must be wrong with mine.

Probably the inner door latch needs to be removed, cleaned and re-lubricated. When the inner door latch gets gummed up (that grease is 40 or so years old) the latch doesn't want to move/release. That plastic piece pushes a portion of the inner latch to release the door. So if that inner latch is gummed up, you opening the door handle just squashes the plastic part and can snap it.

when I cleaned my inner latch I also ended up needing to soak in in pb blaster to lube it right. turns out I cleaned it too well but after soaking it in pb blaster it works like new.

Just tried installing the new door latch cam from Pelican, but the plastic is much thinner and more flexible than the original. The arms of the cam just bend and the door won't open.
And I did remove and relubricate the latch mechanism (basically a wd-40 bath). It helped as far as the cam being able to push the latch all the way when the door is open (although I could still see some bending of the cam arms happening). But when the door is closed the cam isn't strong enough to move the latch to open the door.

Has anyone tried the door latch cam from 914rubber?
If it's the same as the Pelican one, I'll just place a WTB in the classifieds for an original.

you might have the realign the door lock catch and striker. if they are misaligned it could cause a high effort to work the release.

I tried that.
The issue is that the repro cam from Pelican isn't as strong. I can easily bend and almost fold the arms of the repro cam with my fingers.
The plastic of the original cam is much thicker, and it's not possible to bend the arms of the cam at all.

I have been through the same thing. The last time I bought a used factory white plastic cam off ebay for $7.00. Had to bend the metal arms just a bit to pop it in. Working fine so far.

sounds like you need to remove the latch assembly and give it a good cleaning in some sort of solvent (brake cleaner or diesel fuel bath), then lubed with with lithium at contact points, to make all the parts move freely. I know that my key used to be unable to lock the door, but after the removal, cleaning, and lube, the key can actually lock the door

Remove and clean the latch part that locks onto the striker plate. You will be surprised at the light amount of pressure it takes to operate a cleaned and lubed latch.

I've already removed, cleaned, and re-lubed the latch as I mentioned above. I don't think the issue the latch. It moves easily, and the door opens without issue from the inside.
The issue is the repro cam. It isn't strong enough to push the latch.
Here's what happens when you try and open the door:

It seems discussing the problem has helped, as they say. Looking at that pic of the inside of my door, I noticed the bottom arm of the cam didn't seem to be getting pushed by the door handle.
Looks like I'm going to need a new door handle. No wonder the original latch cam broke. The top half of it was exerting all the force on the latch.
What's a replacement door handle run?