Replaced tailgate motor 2010 LX570 (2 Viewers)

[Bryanmc]

I replaced the tailgate motor on my 2010 LX570 and in my searching I didn’t see a thread talking about this so I figured I’d create one. This won’t be a step-by-step as I didn’t think about documenting it at the time, but more of an invitation for anyone to ask questions if they end up doing it themselves.

My tailgate became more and more lethargic over time, eventually it wouldn’t work at all and just give me a double beep. My research led me to replacing the struts, which I did with these:

Qty (2) Fits LX570 2008 To 2015 Liftgate Lift Supports With Power Gate Amazon product ASIN B06ZYJCWF9
That helped the aging struts but didn’t solve the problem.

I came across this video which suggested cleaning the brushes and commutator:



That didn’t solve it either, but that video did help in the tear down procedure.

I then ordered a replacement motor for $375 from here:

68910-69025 - Motor For 2008-2011 Lexus LX570 | Lexus OE Parts

Save Money On Your Motor (6891069025) For Your 2008-2011 Lexus LX570 Vehicle When You Order From Our Online Lexus OEM Parts Shop!

www.lexusoeparts.com

Replacing it was pretty easy, particularly if you’ve already gone to the trouble of trying to clean it. That was a lot more involved than simply replacing the entire thing.

It really was essentially bolt off/bolt on, but there are two specific things I’ll give advice on (other than watch the above video for some detail on what panels/trim to pull and how).

1. This black part where the articulating arm extends from is well connected to the panel (tan in my case) around it. I don’t believe it’s meant to separate from it. It seemed like it would when I took it apart so I ended up breaking some of its connection points to the panel. It was easily repairable with some adhesive, but just make sure to pull it as one piece and you’ll be ok.

2. Attach this post to the articulating arm of the motor AFTER you have installed the motor and replaced the panel. The motor comes with a string attached to the arm to help with this. I didn’t do it in this order and it was a significant pain to get the panel back on, especially since I’d broken that black part to begin with and was trying to keep it from breaking again.

All in all it was a pretty easy install and my gate works again. Happy to answer any questions anyone has should they need to do this repair.

 

[TeCKis300]

Great post. Funny as I was just repairing mine yesterday. Similar symptoms to yours. Though I chalk up part of my issues related to crappy 3rd party lift struts that I had on mine: 1) 3rd party replacements that lasted only 3 yrs causing additional load on the lift motor 2) 3rd party replacements to the replacements that were far too strong (they prob shipped me the unpowered hatch struts) that again created undue closing load for the lift gate motor.

Replacement Struts​

Do yourself a favor and get OEM lift struts. Yes, they are a bit more than twice the price. But they provide value in being higher quality with a level of smoothness and quality light-years ahead of the aftermarket stuff. I didn't notice this until I had working units of both aftermarket and OEM, back to back. They last much longer (original set lasted ~7 yrs). Also the lift and damping quality works like butter, whereas the aftermarket stuff would fling the hatch open, then stutter step in the last few inches of travel.

Part Number​	Part Name​	Price​	Quantity​	Total​
68950-69215​	Right Hatch Lift Support (with power liftgate)​	$50.83​	1​	$50.83​
68960-69165​	Left Hatch Lift Support (with power liftgate)​	$50.83​	1​	$50.83​

Lift Support Depot brand above vs OEM bottom. Note diameter and quality is much higher on OEM unit

Actuator Repair​

I opted to try and repair. Suspected a worn motor - similar to some other worn motors on my 2009 LX570, like the Center Diff Lock Actuator, Transfer Case Actuator, and Folding Mirror. All these exhibited similar loss of torque and sluggish behavior, so I was pretty confident this was a similar issue.

Follow @Bryanmc for removal. I opted to remove the lift strut on the hatch side ball stud which wasn't too bad.

There's additional work to get to the motor itself, requiring taking apart the lift actuator completely. Including the geartrain plate, geartrain assembly from the motor assembly, electronics board, and finally the motor housing. It's not too bad. Just lots of screws, some only exposed by taking apart the geartrain, and electronics. Philips screwdriver (helps to have an impact driver), and a c-clip.

Nothing particularly sensitive or hard, just take it apart methodically. No clocking to preserve.

 

[TeCKis300]

Repair of the motor​

Lots of steps to get here, but this is where the actual fix happens. The motor housing comes right apart without any difficult teardown.

You can see the wear and contamination on the commutator of the drive motor. That was the issue, at least on mine. It had a ton of carbon deposits and gunk. CRC Electronics cleaner is your friend. Blue paper towel and q-tips will do the rest. Carefully work the motor shaft and bearing past the brush assembly.

Gently clean all the black gunk and deposits off the commutator and brushes. Don't need to be hugely anal here as this isn't about RC racing and peak performance... just clean out most of the deposits which was like smeared toothpaste junk on mine.

Bringing back the copper shine. That'll do it.

Put back together and test. Working like new!

 

[Bryanmc]

Great write up! It's entirely possible you're much better at cleaning the motor than I am, I tried my best.

 

[TeCKis300]

Great write up! It's entirely possible you're much better at cleaning the motor than I am, I tried my best.

Thanks for creating this thread and sharing your experience. Totally possible yours was a different root issue, perhaps with the drive electronics, shorted copper windings or commutator.
Of course one could just use it as an unpowered hatch, but at least we now have a great start showing how to replace or repair.

 

[TeCKis300]

Great write up! It's entirely possible you're much better at cleaning the motor than I am, I tried my best.

Didn't drive much over covid times, but turns out after more recent use, that my repair was not long lasting. Colder mornings in particular, the actuator would complain with a long beep and not do the deed to even open the hatch. Took it apart and the commutator seemed fine, yet a second R&R did not fix it.

Seemed to be an issue in the power supply electronics weakening.

I did the same and ordered a new one and it's as good as new.

Peripherally, my side hatch light has always been dim. Surprisingly, the new actuator actually fixed that. Seems to be it supplies power to that light fixture and there was an internal power supply issue in the motor circuit board?

I guess if there's a takeaway - be proactive in replacing the lift struts. Use OEM parts that are actually tuned correctly so as not to stress the actuator over the long term.

 

[teejnut]

When your motors went out did you notice the liftgate wouldn't open all the way initially? My liftgate will open fine it seems but the last 1-2 inches it takes a really long time. I swapped the struts with the Lift Support Depot ones but that didn't help. I will be ordering the OEM strust and see if that makes any difference...

 

[erbsademon]

I did this but when I put it back together if I screw the 3 screws of the round black plastic piece that’s behind the gears in all the way the gears and liftgate won’t move. If I leave the screws loose the gears move but electronics don’t. Any idea how to fix?

 

[erbsademon]

I did this but when I put it back together if I screw the 3 screws of the round black plastic piece that’s behind the gears in all the way the gears and liftgate won’t move. If I leave the screws loose the gears move but electronics don’t. Any idea how to fix?

Picture…

 

[ab1987]

I replaced the tailgate motor on my 2010 LX570 and in my searching I didn’t see a thread talking about this so I figured I’d create one. This won’t be a step-by-step as I didn’t think about documenting it at the time, but more of an invitation for anyone to ask questions if they end up doing it themselves.

My tailgate became more and more lethargic over time, eventually it wouldn’t work at all and just give me a double beep. My research led me to replacing the struts, which I did with these:

Qty (2) Fits LX570 2008 To 2015 Liftgate Lift Supports With Power Gate Amazon product ASIN B06ZYJCWF9
That helped the aging struts but didn’t solve the problem.

I came across this video which suggested cleaning the brushes and commutator:



That didn’t solve it either, but that video did help in the tear down procedure.

I then ordered a replacement motor for $375 from here:

68910-69025 - Motor For 2008-2011 Lexus LX570 | Lexus OE Parts

Save Money On Your Motor (6891069025) For Your 2008-2011 Lexus LX570 Vehicle When You Order From Our Online Lexus OEM Parts Shop!

www.lexusoeparts.com

Replacing it was pretty easy, particularly if you’ve already gone to the trouble of trying to clean it. That was a lot more involved than simply replacing the entire thing.

View attachment 2698080
It really was essentially bolt off/bolt on, but there are two specific things I’ll give advice on (other than watch the above video for some detail on what panels/trim to pull and how).

1. This black part where the articulating arm extends from is well connected to the panel (tan in my case) around it. I don’t believe it’s meant to separate from it. It seemed like it would when I took it apart so I ended up breaking some of its connection points to the panel. It was easily repairable with some adhesive, but just make sure to pull it as one piece and you’ll be ok.
View attachment 2698084

2. Attach this post to the articulating arm of the motor AFTER you have installed the motor and replaced the panel. The motor comes with a string attached to the arm to help with this. I didn’t do it in this order and it was a significant pain to get the panel back on, especially since I’d broken that black part to begin with and was trying to keep it from breaking again.

View attachment 2698085

All in all it was a pretty easy install and my gate works again. Happy to answer any questions anyone has should they need to do this repair.

Can you make the video open to public or share the link? Trying to replace the motor and I can’t figure out how to re attach the arm to the tailgate

 

[Bryanmc]

Can you make the video open to public or share the link? Trying to replace the motor and I can’t figure out how to re attach the arm to the tailgate

Sorry, that’s not my video. Looks like the owner made it private.

 

[krice118]

I am having the same issue as others. Opens fine, can’t close once it reaches the last 1-2 inches. It will close about half the time. I’ll start with new OEM struts and see if that works…

 

[arrivederci]

Adding to the thread about my experience with non-Lexus struts. I used lift supports depot ones ~5 years ago. First, they don't dampen as well and when opening manually they lift way too quickly (you might like this though). They worked fine when motorized too. They have pins with clips to hold the ball joint to the socket. Over time, those clips started to bend/back out until one came out entirely and the socket wouldn't stay on the ball on its own. The struts were fine but the ball joints themselves looked pretty worn. I just installed the OE lexus parts and all is well again.

 

[Thoondaybird]

I replaced the tailgate motor on my 2010 LX570 and in my searching I didn’t see a thread talking about this so I figured I’d create one. This won’t be a step-by-step as I didn’t think about documenting it at the time, but more of an invitation for anyone to ask questions if they end up doing it themselves.

My tailgate became more and more lethargic over time, eventually it wouldn’t work at all and just give me a double beep. My research led me to replacing the struts, which I did with these:

Qty (2) Fits LX570 2008 To 2015 Liftgate Lift Supports With Power Gate Amazon product ASIN B06ZYJCWF9
That helped the aging struts but didn’t solve the problem.

I came across this video which suggested cleaning the brushes and commutator:



That didn’t solve it either, but that video did help in the tear down procedure.

I then ordered a replacement motor for $375 from here:

68910-69025 - Motor For 2008-2011 Lexus LX570 | Lexus OE Parts

Save Money On Your Motor (6891069025) For Your 2008-2011 Lexus LX570 Vehicle When You Order From Our Online Lexus OEM Parts Shop!

www.lexusoeparts.com

Replacing it was pretty easy, particularly if you’ve already gone to the trouble of trying to clean it. That was a lot more involved than simply replacing the entire thing.

View attachment 2698080
It really was essentially bolt off/bolt on, but there are two specific things I’ll give advice on (other than watch the above video for some detail on what panels/trim to pull and how).

1. This black part where the articulating arm extends from is well connected to the panel (tan in my case) around it. I don’t believe it’s meant to separate from it. It seemed like it would when I took it apart so I ended up breaking some of its connection points to the panel. It was easily repairable with some adhesive, but just make sure to pull it as one piece and you’ll be ok.
View attachment 2698084

2. Attach this post to the articulating arm of the motor AFTER you have installed the motor and replaced the panel. The motor comes with a string attached to the arm to help with this. I didn’t do it in this order and it was a significant pain to get the panel back on, especially since I’d broken that black part to begin with and was trying to keep it from breaking again.

View attachment 2698085

All in all it was a pretty easy install and my gate works again. Happy to answer any questions anyone has should they need to do this repair.

Hi, could you provide a link to that YT video again? The link now says it's private.