Junkyard 84 Waggie

[Cliff]

Found it in the local junkyard today. Front and rear bumpers straight, and tailgate has minimal rust. Would like to get these parts. The tailgate window is all the way up. How can I drop the window to facilitate tailgate removal?

Front doors, grille are gone, transfer case and rear diff gone too. V-8 is there, was originally a 258 according the the emissions sticker.

[Gwamp]

There is a trick where you hook up a battery to the wires in the tailgate. I am not sure of the exact details on this. I guess that it would just involve finding the right wires and hooking up the batery to them. I have not yet had to do this to mine *fingers crossed* but I am sure that I will someday.

[linskej]

Guys,

Just last week I pulled a tailgate from the junk yard. Here is the easy way...

Getting the glass down (takes about 5 minutes)
1. Get inside of the jeep and remove the tailgate access panel.
2. Roll over on your back and carefully pry the push nuts off with a screw driver. There are two, one on each side of the window. You should be able to see them if you use a flash light and look up toward the top of the tailgate.
3. Have another person hold the glass up so that it doesn't fall on your head.
4. Next, push on the track arm to free the stud from the window's track. The window will come down, so watch out.

Getting the tail gate off.
1. Make sure that you have some WD-40 and spray the screws to the hinge access plates (under teh carpet). I didn't use any type of lubricate on the jeep in the junk yard, and I managed to strip the screws. I had to rip the panels off using a hammer and a chisel. On my jeep, I sprayed the screws with WD-40 and was able to get them out with hardly any effort.
2. After the panels are off, there are 4 or 5 bolts on each side that hold the tailgate hinge in place. Do one side at a time, but leave at least one nut in place while you are working. Remove the tension bars. I had no clue how to do this the first time around. This is what you need to do. Undo the two bolts that are holding the tension bar in place. Lift the tailgate into an almost up position, and the bar should be able to be worked out with minimal effort. Next do the other tension bar. Remove the tail gate's support arm on each side to the tail gate.
3. Craw under the jeep and disconnect the wiring from the towing wiring harness. You will need to also undo a ground wire.
4. You are going to need some help lifting the tail gate. Shut the tail gate. Remove the last two bolts. Take a deep breathe and count to 10. Remove the tailgate.


I found a better solution for the push nuts. Use a 7/16 nylon washer and 7/16 e clip instead of the push nut. It's a lot easier putting on an e clip than those pain in the butt push nuts. Also go ahead and lube the whole tailgate. I spent today lubing everything.

In total I spent 2 & 1/2 hours at the junk yard removing the tailgate from the donor truck, but only about 1 hour on my own jeep. The trickest part is the tension bars and the screws in the hinge panel.

Good luck, let me know if you need any additional help.

John