Swapping Tailgates – Any Tips?

[Atari Boy 11]

I need to replace my tailgate as it has bit of a dent in it, luckily I have been kindly give one, thanks Ryan .

It looks like a fairly straight forward job, the only area of potential; complication being the wiring.

The ‘new’ tailgate has a few cm’s of exposed wires sticking out of it, is it just a case of getting as much cable as possible from the car end and connecting back together?

I assume that there is not an actual connector and it will be a case of either a chocolate box or bullet connectors?

 

Any tips of advice would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

 

Jonny

[Batfink 201]

i've always been lazy and cut the wiring but I think you can trace the wiring down to the plug points. Off the top of my head it runs down the lefthandside to where the rear light is (though my mind is fuzzy on the details so dont quote me)

[GLPoomobile 958]

Firstly, make sure your hinges are correct! The replacement tailgate I bought had had it's hinges removed and the bolt pattern was different compared to the hinges on the car, so I had to drill them out. You can get new hinges from pug though.

 

On my replacement tailgate I had also had the wiring and washer tube cut (i.e. the person who removed it didn't want to waste any time doing a proper job). I have to confess I did it the cowboy way and cut my existing washer tube (leaving some extra slack) and used a washer tube joiner (one of those plastic tubes with barbed ends). Did the same with the wiring, and just crimped it all up the pikey way with bullet terminals.

 

Also, be careful of your paint work when mounting the boot. I laid some towels over the rear edge of the roof to protect it.

Edited February 18, 2008 by GLPoomobile

[Baz 421]

If you're tailgate now is scrap, then pull all the wires through it to expose them, then, using the remainder of the wires coming out of the new tailgate, tie the good ends to the old and pull them out the back end, subsequently pulling the new ones in. Takes a bit of time and you have to tape up everything so it'll feed through smoothly, but the best way really.

[Atari Boy 11]

Great, thanks. Bodge or proper job, decisions, decisions.....

[Atari Boy 11]

I need different hinges, grrrrr.

[cybernck 402 1 Cars]

^ not necessarily, there are ways around it .

 

[Atari Boy 11]

I think that might be the way forward, GLPoomobile has given me a tip or two on how to do it

[GLPoomobile 958]

^ not necessarily, there are ways around it .

 

 

Exactly how I did mine. You have to drilll the hole/s you need into the hinge, because the tailgate has captive nuts that the bolts screw into, so you can't drill into the tailgate to match it to the hinge, it has to be the other way around.

 

There should be casting marks on the hinge for the extra hole/s. I drilled mine oversize to allow for adjustment of how the tailgate lined up once in place. Get it right then tighten the bolts.

 

As it was a rush job I just put a lick of primer around the holes to prevent rust and blocked the remaining holes with silicone sealant. Job done bit not a pretty solution.

[Atari Boy 11]

For point of reference, I chased the cables through and it was not that hard a job using the old cables as pullers. Probably a 2 spanner job in Haynes talk.