Soft Tailgate upgrade (3 Viewers)

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mudgudgeon

Resident galah
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Dec 17, 2007
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Hanging on to the underside of the flerf
How about a Royalty fee, maybe 1 US cent per kit?? Figure I'd have enough for a new engine in about 67 years??:D

See posts #11 and 14:


Nice job.

There's nothing new under the sun.

Tossed around different ideas when I had tail gate storage in my 105.
I was contemplating a cable on the tailgate, attached to a gas strut hidden in the rear pillar
 
Joined
Jan 9, 2019
Messages
368
Location
Los Angeles, CA
Would need to get my hands on a 100 series to fiddle with...

First off I apologize for 100 series tech on the 80 series thread.

100 series will be a little tricky. First the drop limit cable is about 1.2 inches shorter on the 100 compared to an 80. There’s no room to lengthen the cable as it will interfere with the bulge for the latch. The 100 tailgate also isn’t as square towards the bottom, it is more rounded than the 80. This requires the lower mount/eye of the damper to be mounted at an odd angle. I think for the 100 it is going to require a mount or longer bolt for the lower eye of the damper where it connects into the tailgate.

The good news … the bolt thread and pitch on the 100 are the same as the 80. The bolt mounted to the body side of the vehicle clears the 100 tailgate when closed even using the wider stock drop limit cable. The damper clears the 100 tailgate when closed. The body side on the 100 doesn’t curve in leaving plenty of room to mount a bracket off the lower corner of the tailgate.

What I think needs to be done to solve for the 100. Either 1) longer custom bottom bolt as the bolt supplied with the 80 kit isn’t going to have enough purchase inside the tailgate to attach a nut due to curvature of 100 tailgate, 2) metal or plastic spacer that captures the 100 series tailgate curvature on one side and sits parallel to the body on the other side, 3) metal bracket that bolts to tailgate and essentially makes a square mounting point for the bottom eye of the damper.

Not sure if I’m ready to hack up my tailgate to solve this, but I do think it is possible to achieve with some custom parts.
 

Hornd

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Dec 18, 2013
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Toledo, OH
Please confirm the Correct Cable was sent?

This has a 1/4" Offset unlike the one in Picture which is Flat.
One in Picture has a Keyhole Slot this is a Straight Slot.

Excited to get this working.

img_1605-jpeg.3231410
IMG_1606.jpeg


IMG_1605.jpeg
 

Outsane

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solvefunction.com

Outsane

Supporting Vendor
Joined
Oct 1, 2010
Messages
2,069
Location
San Mateo, CA
Website
solvefunction.com
there is nothing special and no machining needed anybody can do this
go to amazon order Damper kit for Nissan Navaro and use silverado truck tailgate cable drill bit bigger hole on the silverado tailgate cable and bolt it together cost about 22 $
Just a collection of things, I added the parts needed to the first post.
 
Joined
Sep 15, 2016
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1,196
Location
Chattanooga, TN
For the tailgate nut, if we haven't cut out our tailgate for storage yet how hard would this be to get to?

Unless I'm forgetting something I'd say pretty much impossible. I also question why anyone would want to do this without the extra weight of tailgate storage.

I added this setup because I was nervous about my kids accidentally opening the tailgate on themselves at some point. The weight of the tailgate in my case was moderate and I didn't mind using it without the damper nor did my wife. Now that the damper is on I no longer worry about the kids but the tailgate is pretty slow and is harder/slower to close. This damper setup slows down the unloading/loading process when I have to lower the tailgate to some extent and I'm hoping the damper loosens up some as it ages.
 
Joined
Dec 10, 2007
Messages
9,286
"This damper setup slows down the unloading/loading process---"

Don't have the answer but seems like the fix would be finding a strut with different valving in extension and compression ie: a little less restriction (slightly more open valving that the current strut) for going down (extension) and ~ wide open valving for going up/closing (compression)??
 

NorthWA

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Jun 24, 2021
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PNW, WA
I got the kit and installed. The new cable binds up and does not fold in well. Not sure if I did something wrong but here are a few photos.

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5F2E1FE9-57A8-4147-A8AF-6B70110F913E.jpeg
2894B9F8-3217-4D9B-BB88-E055DAB616CA.jpeg
 
Joined
Oct 9, 2018
Messages
132
Location
Santa Rosa, CA
Got my kit in the mail. Doing the install now. It has the new cable. Not sure how that is supposed to work with the custom machined stud. The old style had a reduced width at one end. The new one does not, it is a full width slotted opening. The custom machined stud floats in there like a hot dog in a hallway. Also, because it is full width to the end, the outer dimensions on that end of the cable are wider and it binds up on the "U" latch bracket that is attached to the body of the LC. Can you post up instructions on this new cable?
 

NorthWA

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Jun 24, 2021
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PNW, WA
Appreciate the feedback. Sure thought I drilled the hole in the right place based on Outsane’s photo on page 1 of this thread. Oh well, I think I’m gonna scrap the idea and just go back to stock. New Cable seemed a bit short as well.
 
Joined
Oct 9, 2018
Messages
132
Location
Santa Rosa, CA
I ran into a problem with the shock strut. After installation the drop was extremely slow. Almost 2 minutes to drop on it's own. I raised and lowered the tailgate by hand through a narrow range to try to see if something was binding. The top of the strut is a threaded stud and the angled eyelet is an aluminum part that has an internal thread and screws onto the top. I was pulling down on the tailgate, looking for binding when the threads pulled out of that aluminum eyelet at the top of the strut and the tailgate crashed down. Yikes!. I put it back to stock for now. Not sure why the shock was so slow on the drop. I have the tailgate full up with recovery gear and it is very heavy.
 

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