[johnh7]

I quit being lazy and took the locking mechanism out of the door and cleaned it up. I examined it and found out there is a reason for the indentation on the original handle shaft. The mechanism has a spring loaded piece that snaps into that indentation and holds the handle and shaft in so it can not slide out.

If I shorten the new shaft and grind the end down so that it is rounded like the original I think it will turn that spring loaded piece as it is forced in and allow the shaft to go all the way in. If I grind a recess in the new shaft matching the one on the original, that spring loaded piece should snap in and hold the new one in place like the old one. Looks like I have it figured out. Thanks for those that responded.