Remove recirc door

I've got a 2002 1500 and, as I'm driving (usually on longer trips, not around town), I'll get a really weak flow of air from the vents. Can hear the fan blowing and can feel cold air, but just barely. What's odd is that it doesn't do it all the time, just sometimes. Today, for instance, I was driving back from a camping trip and it worked fine for about 20 minutes, then it was doing the thing where the air is barely coming out. So, I turned off the AC button and then switched it from vent to feet and then to the windshield, then back to the vents and it started working properly again.

I've done a bunch of looking around and see that it's usually a problem with a broken recirc door and most of what I've seen says that the door has usually just broken off and is lying over the fan motor. So I pull off my glove box and took out the motor and look up in it and see that the recirc door is still attached and I can flip it back and forth with my hand.

At this point, is my only option to just drill a couple of holes in it and screw it in place? I would prefer not to do that, but I suppose I can if that will keep it blowing cold air all the time.

There's some videos out there that suggest just (literally) ripping the recirc door out, I have the same problem and have been trying to figure it out, and I'd love to hear everyone's opinions.

2003 1500 QuadCab 5.7 4x4

Mine went out as well, I went to the dealer and got a whole new recirc housing, complete with the door and actuator, and just replaced it myself. It was 80 dollars.

If you reach up there and just rip the thing out, not only is it hogging up your truck, but there will be a constant flow of air from outside coming into the truck through that opening. Not only does this make your heat/Ac ineffective, but it will freeze the feet off of anyone who rides in the truck in the winter. And if you screw the door to constantly recirc, your defrost won't work as well as it should. If you screw it to constantly draw outside air, in extreme heat/cold, your HVAC system will struggle and can also suck in dirt in dusty environments. So my opinion is, don't hog it up, just fix it.

There is also a company Heater Treater that makes replacement doors out of metal. Mine is an 08 so it is a little different of a body style than yours but I can say replacing the recirc housing in mine wasn't necessarily hard, just a little time consuming. I think I had two or three hours into it.