Cheap and Effective Pickup Rear Window Latch Replacement
 

I recently bought my third Toyota, another 1988 Toyota Pickup. This one is pretty rough but I got a good deal. Anyway, one thing it was missing was the latch for the rear slider window. I've heard a couple other reports of these latches breaking and that the OEM parts are not available. Well, I've found a pretty good substitute. McMaster Carr P/N: 6082A11. Price is $9.00 before shipping. It's made from 304 Stainless and has the exact same mounting dimensions as the OEM latch. Here's how I went about the replacement.

Here's the part.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.yot...73398794d6.jpg

And here's what we're trying to fix.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.yot...d56cc90629.jpg

25/32 is 0.781" which means the McMaster Carr part has the same center to center for the mounting holes. Awesome.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.yot...1992a27051.jpg

Drill out the rivet heads so you can remove the remnants of the original latch.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.yot...fb1b3a05cd.jpg

Then remove the latch and drill out the rivets entirely. Try not to wallow out the holes like I did. If you do end up messing the holes up, you could simply relocate the latch up or down a little bit and drill new holes.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.yot...71044bf58f.jpg

The last step is to get some 1/8" rivets and rivet the new latch on. I'd recommend steel rivets over aluminum rivets for strength.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.yot...b1a84b0261.jpg

Latched and secured!
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.yot...4f534b1e6a.jpg

I need that, BRAVO!