Restoration of my families grocery getter

[Wonderwagon]

Decided to clean up the tailgate Door/ tailgate latch mechanism. Cleaned off the gray primer, got back to the steel, used the zinc paint to only touch up the rusted areas and the clear coated tge whole mechanism. Wait on a warm day here in Chicago, reinstall the latch mechanism and the window regulator. Once in need to do a heat shrink repair on the tailgate wire loom and I'll reinstall te glass.

 

[John FatFab]

Wait on a warm day here in Chicago, reinstall the latch mechanism and the window regulator.

The forecast for the next few weeks does not look promising for anything above freezing....At least down here in Indy anyways. I knew we were due a long cold winter as the past few for us have been pretty mild.

 

[Wonderwagon]

The forecast for the next few weeks does not look promising for anything above freezing....At least down here in Indy anyways. I knew we were due a long cold winter as the past few for us have been pretty mild.

Garage is about 2' to short, or need to get the old house doors stripped and hung in the house. Another warm weather project.....

 

[Wonderwagon]

Touched up the repairs, maybe a little to Red?

 

[Wonderwagon]

Welp it wasn't freezing in Chicago, but it wasn't beach weather either. Put on the insulated Carnharts and reinstalled the regulator and tailgate latch. Just need to figure out how the drivers side actuator rod connects to the door lever. While off found the cloth anti rattle sleeve serviceable, but in the need to be replaced. Found a company that makes cotton sleeves for wire looming. That's the plan at the moment. Looks pretty good for 50+ years. Need to scribes a line on the regulator and or count teeth for the optimum place to park the arms for removal/ installation.

 

[Wonderwagon]

How many ways can you flip a door latch connecting rod, apparently 2 hours worth. Rear tailgate has three latches, two that open on the passengers side and one on the drivers. The latch has four connections, one at 2-o'clock another at about 4, 7 and around nine. The two at two and four are easy the connecting rods are right next to these. The 9 o'clock is some what obvious it's the saftey catch that open when the window goes down and opens the saftey. The sevenish one connects to the drivers top latch. That opens when the gate is actuator, its rod was the stickler. I didn't take pictures so spin away I did. The trick was there is a "tunnel" that is under the motor/ window arm. The assembly drawing makes it looked like the straight side goes to the actuator/ handle on the passenger side, NOT. The offset goes to the sevenish arm and the straight side to the latch. It's tight, hence the anti rattle sleeve.

 

[3175375]

How many ways can you flip a door latch connecting rod, apparently 2 hours worth. Rear tailgate has three latches, two that open on the passengers side and one on the drivers. The latch has four connections, one at 2-o'clock another at about 4, 7 and around nine. The two at two and four are easy the connecting rods are right next to these. The 9 o'clock is some what obvious it's the saftey catch that open when the window goes down and opens the saftey. The sevenish one connects to the drivers top latch. That opens when the gate is actuator, its rod was the stickler. I didn't take pictures so spin away I did. The trick was there is a "tunnel" that is under the motor/ window arm. The assembly drawing makes it looked like the straight side goes to the actuator/ handle on the passenger side, NOT. The offset goes to the sevenish arm and the straight side to the latch. It's tight, hence the anti rattle sleeve.

View attachment 707585

View attachment 707586





View attachment 707592

View attachment 707593

View attachment 707594

Good work figuring this out (I am assuming that you secured victory)!

 

[Wonderwagon]

Good work figuring this out (I am assuming that you secured victory)!

Yes the smell of chilled victory, then I got more annoyed at the lazy shop for not removing a couple of latches on the tailgate and the latches link arm i just installed. Maybe today I'll remove it and clean it off. Stupid OCD.

 

[Wonderwagon]

Today culminated in installing the glass in the tailgate. First time all the glass is in place(except windshield). Cleaned up the tailgate wire harness, re-rapped the conductors, cleaned the pinch welding at the bottom within an inch of its life. Cleaned the felt window tracks, of debris and 50+ years of hard nasty grease on the window lift tracks. Felt good to raise and lower the window via the window operator, even though it was off the cheater battery and button. PICS you scream/. Tip install the window in the up position so the inboard scree can be accessed through the hole in the door/ gate operator or have a cheater battery to do it mid height and nurse it to the higher height.

Last picture, has the zip tie through a tailgate frame hole, looped through the glass safety arm, thst is actuator by pulling the arm, out away from the latch by the rod that gets pushed down by the glass. This allows the tailgate door functions to work without glass installed.