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Mightymouse got a group of us together at Moonlight Racing...easier than Wachita but enough stuff that it was relaxed and fun. I would go again for sure.
Stockwell...
That's how us midwesterners (me, anyway) feel about the east and west coast. Mr. Mouse has done a great job of getting us together for fun runs, I'm hoping he keeps up the great work!
Speaking of....mightymouse...
Seeing your pics reminded me so I put the hubby's pics up in the moonlight thread too.
thanks for posting them hab they look good. I plan on getting out and wheeling as much as possible. As soon as i figure out the next run i'll be sure to post up.
Cargo light didn't work when switched to 'door', only worked when switched to 'on'. Fine. Repaired wire under boot between top of hatch and rear door, problem solved.
Well, not anymore which I hadn't really noted until terminator's thread came along.
Now I've got to do some more digging.
So I did and here's what happened....
To get into the rear hatch guts remove the only screw...
then carefully pry up the rest off their little thingies...
Remove the larger of the metal covers...I left it hanging by the wire bundles for the ecu...it was out of the way enough.
I am not telling anybody to do what I've done below. I am only documenting here for people who want to know what they're dealing with when they're trying to clean up the switch without being able to see it. Will my latch continue to work?? I don't know. It does now but only time will tell if I haven't boogered it up. What can I say? Curiosity got the best of me. Hopefully that means it won't have to for some of you because you can see what's here.
EDIT: It's been 4 years and still works perfectly. I guess I haven't boogered it up.
Another EDIT: 8 years and it's all good.
On with it...
Last edited by habanero; Nov 11, 2019 at 01:44 PM.
As has been stated before, the latch is riveted together. I'm scared of the grinder so the hubby took off the two rivet heads that face the body of the hatch. There's some springs in here, held in by the plastic interior. He took the metal cover off but left the plastic interior in place. Here it is without the cover. The troublesome switch is the white thing with wires connected to it.
The switch sits on 2 small plastic pins and comes right out if open the cover to see what's what. You can see a metal pin sticking up. This is what deactivates the switch- turns it off- when the door is closed.
Here I've circled the pin described in the last post in red...
Here is the switch with the part that the pin contacts facing you...
The pin slides the red-circled block down, inside it is a copper bar that breaks contact as it moves downward. The blue circle is the spring that holds the block and therefore the copper bar upwards against the contacts when the door is open and the pin not engaged...
Here's the latch with cover removed (that was never intended to be removed) and switch in place. I've cleaned the switch (there was a bug stuck in there...what the heck???) as best I could without further dissembling it.
Put back together, the side you see when it's installed on the truck, rivets intact.
and the side you don't see. I hit it with a little paint to cover the ground off stuff. With a pliers it snapped back onto what was left of the rivets, definitely not securely closed, though.
Reversed procedure to put it all back together. The latch squished back together easily when I bolted it onto the truck. Tested the light and latch, then buttoned it up. So far so good. Will it stay that way? Dunno. Will the violated latch stay together or fall apart? Dunno.
I've only put this up as a pictorial so you can see what it looks like under those rivets when you're cleaning it to free up the switch's plastic block so it'll move freely back to making contact when the door's open.
Edit 2/10/16: everything still works great and no issues with violated latch to date.
Edit 9/30/2018: everything is still awesome with the latch
Last edited by habanero; Sep 30, 2018 at 06:33 PM.
great write up on this hab I need to dig into mine, the only time it worked was the one time I didnt notice the hatch was not closed and the light that never worked stay lit for 2 weeks while I was was on the road or at least as long as it took to drain the bat LOL. I'll skip your advice on not doing this and give it a try LOL. thanks again.
If you wait a few weeks I'll update on how the latch and repair is holding up. I was worried people would see this and think it's all hunky and dory when I don't know if it is or not. From threads terminator posted up you should be able to take care of this without taking it apart.
If you wait a few weeks I'll update on how the latch and repair is holding up. I was worried people would see this and think it's all hunky and dory when I don't know if it is or not. From threads terminator posted up you should be able to take care of this without taking it apart.
And you're welcome.
itll be at least a couple hab but I enjoy takeing thing apart and trying to figure out what makes them tick or in most cases not tick.
Great post on this Habanero! My switch is still working for whatever reason and if it quits that is the next step. I like how you left the visible rivets alone and ground the ones not visible while the latch is installed, that's detailed thinking right there!
If mine decides to part time it again I'll get my grinder out and go to town.
Dec 7, 2011 | 06:19 PM
