Tailgate Hinge Pins

[KBWoodwgn]

Good Evening again,
I was admiring my Grand Wagoneer last night and happened to notice that my right tailgate hinge pin has been completely sheared. Anybody know why this would have happened in normal use?
Also the other one looks bad.. So I need to replace both. I called around and ended up at the dealer.. $18 per pin and has to be ordered. So I ordered em.. However, Are these more than Grade 8 bolts with no thread? The first Dealership tried to sell me a complete hinge for $125...I said no to that but it doesn't look like these 15 year old pins are going to come out willingly.. Any tips?

[Elliott]

Drive 'em out with a punch and large hammer. I think the hinge itself is aluminum after 1980 or something like that. I removed the whole hinge to do a swap before I punched the pins out, but you probably don't need to unless you want to be sure not to smack your tailgate (?)
Removing/replacing the tailgate in a full removal is a heavy pita to do by yourself.

[Tad]

They are pressed in there pretty good, never gotten one out intact. A bit easier to change the hinge.
Hardest part is dealing with the torsion bar but as long as you don't pull it out it's not that bad.

The newer GW hinges are Aluminum, not sure about the pin (at least the '85 was). I'm pretty sure I still have them both, email if interesed, I'll do like $25 + shipping on the pair.

Reguardless of what you do, start soaking the bolts now, for several days at least. They build up some pretty severe rust between the bolts/backing plates in the tailgate and the mount plate on the body.

[ August 05, 2003, 08:06 PM: Message edited by: tadsal ]

[andy d]

i replaced one hinge on my 88. it was easier than i thought it would be. the torsion bars are unloaded when the gate is closed. what i did was to work on the hinge with the gate as clsed as possible. i harvested the hinge from my 84 so i did all my learning on that. i would see if i could get a used one from a fellow board member by posting in the wanted section.

[KBWoodwgn]

Tad, I sent you mail.

Does the entire tailgate need to be removed to replace the hinges. I would rather do one at a time and leave the tailgate in place.

And I would like to spare bashing my tailgate with the hammer so taking the hinge off is probably the best Idea.

kb