1965 New Yorker Town & Country Tailgate Counterbalance

[nicksgarage]

Anyone know how the tailgate is counterbalanced on a '65 wagon?

A friend has '64 and '65 New Yorker Town & Country wagons and on the '65, there is no counterbalancing on the tailgate like on the '64. Something is wrong with it but the service manual doesn't give any help. The '64 uses torsion bars at the bottom but we don't see anything like that on the '65. I thought maybe the slides on the side of the body with the tailgate supports might have something to do with it but we haven't tried tearing into that.

 

[CBODY67]

Are you sure the '65 is supposed to be counter-balanced? You might check the sales literature and info at www.hamtramck-historical.com and look for a downloadable parts book at either www.mymopar.com or www.jholst.net. The Jholst website is devoted to Letter Cars, but has the earlier parts books for download.

It could well be that the counter-balance could have been something that was easy to delete in order to decrease the production cost of the car, as might have been required by the bean counters?

Just some thoughts,
CBODY67

 

[nicksgarage]

We looked at a '66 Fury wagon and the tailgate was counterbalanced but didn't get a chance to look at it closely enough to see how it worked. The owner was able to stop the tailgate halfway down. I can't imagine Chrysler eliminating it since as a family car, women would have to work the tailgate and it's very heavy.

 

[nicksgarage]

Thanks for the links to the service manual and parts book. The service manual shows that the bars that ride up and down in the tracks are the torsion bars for counterbalance as well as limiting the travel of the gate. We'll have to open up the gate to see if they are broken or disconnected inside.

 

[nicksgarage]

BTW, the Chrysler manual doesn't show this info on the torsion bars, that's why he didn't find it in his.

 

[thrashingcows]

My 68 T/C does not have a counter balance, and I can't stop the gate part way through open/close....it's kind of heavy going each way.

 

[nicksgarage]

My 68 T/C does not have a counter balance, and I can't stop the gate part way through open/close....it's kind of heavy going each way.

I'll post what we find out when we dig into it. Either the torsion bars are broken or disconnected. You have to remove the tailgate to take out the torsion bars but we're going to try rolling up the window with the gate open to see what we can see.

 

[nicksgarage]

According to the parts book, there is only one torsion bar. It goes up to the slide track on the passenger side. The other side is just a support arm. Part number 2520250 on the torsion bar.

 

[mopar440]

Not the hijack that's thread, cuz I have a thread on it already, but is there any way to manually roll down the tailgate window on a 65 New Yorker I can't seem to find a way to get it down and my motor and regulator are stuck.

 

[nicksgarage]

Not the hijack that's thread, cuz I have a thread on it already, but is there any way to manually roll down the tailgate window on a 65 New Yorker I can't seem to find a way to get it down and my motor and regulator are stuck.

My friend had the same problem with his '64 wagon when he got it. His friend Dale helped him, he says:

"Dale and I put a rope down tailgate then pulled it up around the window. I had him operate the switch up n down. The window finally went down and I used the rope to help pull it back up. We did that several times. I also banged on the motor with a hammer prior to finally getting it to work."

 

[mopar440]

I smacked the regulator in the motor area, cause the motor is not easy to get to. Maybe I'll enlist a helper and try to smack the motor itself, won't be easy

 

[nicksgarage]

Ok, here's the update on the 1965 Town & Country tailgate counterbalance. I went over and looked at the car. The torsion bar is broken off and the broken part has been removed from the gate. Only 1965 and 1966 fit as they changed to a beefier bar setup in 1967 and 1968. In these pictures you can see where the bar is snapped off as well as the clamp for the middle of the bar and the anchor on the driver's side of the gate for that end of it. This is the same bar that slides up and down on the side of the car and holds up the gate. Only the passenger side one is a torsion bar, the other side is just a gate support. Repair information shows that you have to pull the tailgate off to change it but I think we can do it with the gate in the car. As long as we can find an unbroken torsion bar somewhere.

 

[nicksgarage]

Found '65 880 wagon parts on Ebay but their torsion bar is also broken off. Maybe it's a common problem and why they redesigned it in 1967.

 

[detmatt]

Have you tried Murray Park?
Www.cbodies.com

 

[Boulevard Metal Works]

I'm doing this job also, how did you fix?

 

[nicksgarage]

I'm doing this job also, how did you fix?

Haven't fixed it yet. Did get another torsion bar. The repair procedure calls for removing the tailgate but it looks like it could be done without doing that.

 

[Boulevard Metal Works]

Could you send a photo of replacement torsion bar and angles?

 

[nicksgarage]

It's a friend's car so I'll have to get him to send me a picture.

 

[Boulevard Metal Works]

I've just had a new torsion bar made and think I'm 90 deg out of alignment...

 

[nicksgarage]

Going to try and get him to take a picture down the length of the bar to see the offset of the two ends.