dcdanno22

So, my 93 4runner SR5 was rear ended and sustained decent damage. Most notably the the tailgate is dented pretty good. The insurance company totaled it out but for $750 I can keep it. It still runs and drives fine. I found a compatible tailgate at the local junkyard for $33. Too good to pass up. The problem I run into is getting the gate off. On my vehicle, as well as the one in the junkyard the rear windows are up. since I have to get the tailgate down to remove it can anyone give me an idea how to do so. The dent in my tailgate will not allow the window to go down. If I get the replacement gate off with no issues I assume I may have to break the window on mine. I am wondering if i access the motor nd gears from inside and basically unmount it, will the glass drop down far enough to allow the tailgate to open. Any help is appreciated.

P.S. Although I have benefited from this forum for years this is my fist post, please let me know if I did something wrong!

justin_4runner

yeah if u can get into the area of where the gears and motor are u can unbolt the motor and brace that holds it all in and get it to go down,might need to unbolt the big bracket and see if u can get the motor off so it will move easy. then u will be able to get the gate open, it will take a little messing with but it will open, also in ur rig if u are just replacing the tail gate then i would get inside and bang or cut the part out that will stop the window from going down then braking out the window,

jswizz

I am assuming your tailgate is fubar . and window wont go down even if you hook up a battery directly to the wires .
but you could break yours and hook battery to the good one to get it down ? hope that helps. look up rear window threads also .

dcdanno22

Thanks for the quick response! I am not sure I would be able to bang out the dent, so maybe cutting it is the better option. I am going to try and attach a picture to show the damage. The dent is bit worse than the picture shows.
So I would get to the gears and motor from the panel inside and drop the whole assembly down? or will un-attach the the motor mechanism from the window so the window can go down ? Thanks again

dcdanno22

Yes, it is fubar. It will definitely not go down on my truck. I will definitely take a battery to the junk yard to see if I can make that part of the project much easier. Thanks for the quick response.

nothingbetter

do you have a welder? weld some nuts to the outside of the gate. screw in some bolts and use a slide hammer to pull out the dent enough that the window will go down. Or cut the skin of the gate off. Grind down all the edges and the skin should pop off. Might be a few welds or panel adhesive.

jbtvt

Loads of room to jump that off the battery above the dent, it only needs to drop 3 inches to clear the weatherstripping. Hotwire the window motor.

old fart

Since your window is in the upright position, when you take off the panel on the inside (if your able to(plastic)), then the metal window assembly cover plate you will see the rollers in the channel track on both sides on the bottom portion of your window, by carefully popping those rollers out of the track, it should allow your window to slide down slightly towards the dented area. And what he said ^^^ you need a few inches to clear the weatherstripping, which, once your window is off the track, you can possible wiggle her free from outside, and lift that booger out. Just make sure you remove the window weather stripping at the top of the gate. My gate is good, but my window is off track, i'll go pull mine if you haven't started yours yet and see if those 3 inches will allow it to come out.

dcdanno22

Turns out I can get the window down far enough with the motor to clear the weather stripping (I don't know why I thought it would have to go down further?) but the gate remains locked and I cannot use the inner latch to unlock it. I don't know if this is a design feature, so you don't drop the gate down with he window still partially up or if it is something caused from the accident. I guess I will be pulling the panel off to disengage the lock. In the mean time I will search the forums to learn how to hot wire the window motor to get the window down on the junkyard replacement I have found. Thanks to all who have helped out so far!

old fart

Timed out on last response...that stinks. Use a screwdriver. small pry bar, on the inside of where your handle rods connect to the latch at the body, with a friend pulling up the handle as you do so. When the window is fully down it triggers a "contact" switch that unlocks the handle to allow you to drop the gate.

old fart

If the tailgate rods are bent from that impact, that's where you may need to do some gentle prying. If your donor still has the key/ignition and isnt to chopped up, use a portable battery pack "jumpstart pack" on the battery terminals, and if the rear window switch is there and functional, that should work fine on the donor window regulator motor.

stanz

iTrader: (1)

I would just pop off the inner panel. Remove every bit of window mechanicals (salvageable or not) you can and then sawzall the anything that gets in the way of getting the window down enough. Just don't forget to support the glass when you tilt the tailgate down. It could snap under its own weight.

jbtvt

Crappy pic from old writeup:



That door looks pretty salvageable to me, even for $33. Once you get the regulator out of there you can jam a pry bar in and pop the dents out. No painting or routing wires in there either, which isn't fun.

XtraSlow_XtraCab

Have you thought about removing the inner panels and just letting your foot say "Hoof" to the dented skin? That should be able to clear it right up.

dcdanno22

The pic does not sow the damage very well. The worst damage is down low. Because that area is crushed in and the frame portion of the gate is bent, I am not sure it could be straightened out enough to operate correctly. The crash peeled\the bumper under as well as the trailer hitch, might look to replace those with junk yard finds as well. The rear portion of the frame was cracked which the collision repair place said could be fixed with welding, to Toyota standards. Thanks for the pic JBTVT, that should do the job. I am going to get to it this week and will let you all know how it turns out.

jbtvt

I've got a super duty class III hitch from a parts 4runner I was going to sell that would fit your rig, twice as many bolts as some other manufacturers. I hit it with the wire wheel and 3 coats of hammered finish (had some surface rust, structurally 100%), bought 8 sets of new grade 8 fasteners (and welded up some new heavier duty handle nuts), and printed out some instructions.

Was going to put it on CL so I haven't priced shipping, but I imagine I could do $140 incl shipping. Got some pics if you're interested.

http://www.drawtite-hitches.com/prod...er_Hitch,75145