First off, I have been in the thorny weeds for a while now...I have some parts to get shipped to some of you..patch panels and things SORRY FOR THE WAIT!:whoops:.
Now the meat:
Tailgate handle broke...working out of the rear doors and over the gate is very tiresome. Tailgate handles are hard to find, you have to wait and then it is a 30+year old part that will only give a cruiser dude/dudette "X" amount of time. First thought was to have something made from billet stock or William Hill a steel handle that would "bolt right in". F that. I don't have the time. Pulling the glass also tore up what little remained of the rubber and the window never really did kick much butt IMO. Sure, nice to crack it for a bee while driving, but I never drove far w/ it down as I prefer to breath air over whatever it is coming from the exhaust.
Back to the first old thought of fixing the window issue by re investigating a lift up rear hatch window. First of all, it had to be sturdy enough to both seal out the world against a bulbous rubber strip and keep honest people from opening up the rig a tool shopping whilst I might be away from my truck. Second, it had to be able to lift up high enough to not unibrow ones self when up on the gate; ie, climbing in or out or a giant poking their eye out walkin by when the window was up. And last, it had to be able to do all of this without destroying(any more) my pig- at least irreversibly.
I toyed with the idea of a steel framed window that I could fab up at home, but that got to be real heavy real fast. Then I thought about lightening it by using plastic instead of glass, but that presented new issues and I still had a heavy steel frame cocked like a guillotine over someones head. Then I looked at the ford epedition rear hatch...hinges over the glass on the out side, and a rubber sealing lip on the inside of the frame for the window to press against- no frame work, just 2 screws thru the glass and a concealed latch.
Enter 3/8" lexan, or polycarbonate. I know, I know, it will be prone to scratches and it does have a bit of flex(not much). The purpose of this is to get the rig back into public soon, and to serve as a template for someday having a piece of tempered glass fabbed up to "bolt right in". I chose to use the outer window runner as my point of seal for the new window, so I had the poly cut to fit it fairly tight- 44 1/2" X 16 1/2". 16 1/8-1/4" would have been better. I toiled with what to do for the hinges. I didn't want to have to pay for one offs or minimum orders or even really have to wait for them, so they had to be home brewed or off the shelf. We all know there is not alot on that particular shelf- in my neck of the woods anyway. So they would be weld on bullet hinges bonded to some 1/4" X 2" strap- about 5 1/2" long w/ a 30* bend allowing for a 2" tail, giving about 1 1/2" of kick away from the outer surface of the poly @ 7/8" down from the bottom of the gutter. I came in from the vertical edge of the poly 7 1/2" to the centerline of the strap of the hinge. This located the fixed side of the hinge about 9 1/4" to the center from the vertical edge of the poly on the rain gutter. I drilled 2 holes in each strap and thru the poly and used shoulder bolt w/ an allen head that I will drill out and nylock nut w/ neoprene and steel fender washers on the inside. I fit the new "glass" leaving a bit of space at the top (still have a tiny bit of abrasive work to do on the drivers vertical edge and the lower lip to get a nice clearanced fit) and clamped the flags in place to the bottom of the gutter trying to keep all the line plumbed, test opened and closed and tacked the flags in place. I then removed the hardware from one hinge and slid the other off its post to do the finish welding and grinding, primed the hardware and weld areas, and re assembled. I still have to aquire a 3 point l handle latch, and install a piece of angle over the slot in the TG where the window used to be to serve as a stop, a latch point, and a place to fix the bulbous rubber. As for the TG itself, without the window gear in there, I can operate the linkage as it is for now, and it gives me tons of options when it comes to fabbing a new TG operator. I am thinking something like a 60 series where the window has to be opened first to get to the TG latch. Best part is, now I also have room to fab a box or boxes to fit into the TG body to use as storage. Pics to follow.
Now the meat:
Tailgate handle broke...working out of the rear doors and over the gate is very tiresome. Tailgate handles are hard to find, you have to wait and then it is a 30+year old part that will only give a cruiser dude/dudette "X" amount of time. First thought was to have something made from billet stock or William Hill a steel handle that would "bolt right in". F that. I don't have the time. Pulling the glass also tore up what little remained of the rubber and the window never really did kick much butt IMO. Sure, nice to crack it for a bee while driving, but I never drove far w/ it down as I prefer to breath air over whatever it is coming from the exhaust.
Back to the first old thought of fixing the window issue by re investigating a lift up rear hatch window. First of all, it had to be sturdy enough to both seal out the world against a bulbous rubber strip and keep honest people from opening up the rig a tool shopping whilst I might be away from my truck. Second, it had to be able to lift up high enough to not unibrow ones self when up on the gate; ie, climbing in or out or a giant poking their eye out walkin by when the window was up. And last, it had to be able to do all of this without destroying(any more) my pig- at least irreversibly.
I toyed with the idea of a steel framed window that I could fab up at home, but that got to be real heavy real fast. Then I thought about lightening it by using plastic instead of glass, but that presented new issues and I still had a heavy steel frame cocked like a guillotine over someones head. Then I looked at the ford epedition rear hatch...hinges over the glass on the out side, and a rubber sealing lip on the inside of the frame for the window to press against- no frame work, just 2 screws thru the glass and a concealed latch.
Enter 3/8" lexan, or polycarbonate. I know, I know, it will be prone to scratches and it does have a bit of flex(not much). The purpose of this is to get the rig back into public soon, and to serve as a template for someday having a piece of tempered glass fabbed up to "bolt right in". I chose to use the outer window runner as my point of seal for the new window, so I had the poly cut to fit it fairly tight- 44 1/2" X 16 1/2". 16 1/8-1/4" would have been better. I toiled with what to do for the hinges. I didn't want to have to pay for one offs or minimum orders or even really have to wait for them, so they had to be home brewed or off the shelf. We all know there is not alot on that particular shelf- in my neck of the woods anyway. So they would be weld on bullet hinges bonded to some 1/4" X 2" strap- about 5 1/2" long w/ a 30* bend allowing for a 2" tail, giving about 1 1/2" of kick away from the outer surface of the poly @ 7/8" down from the bottom of the gutter. I came in from the vertical edge of the poly 7 1/2" to the centerline of the strap of the hinge. This located the fixed side of the hinge about 9 1/4" to the center from the vertical edge of the poly on the rain gutter. I drilled 2 holes in each strap and thru the poly and used shoulder bolt w/ an allen head that I will drill out and nylock nut w/ neoprene and steel fender washers on the inside. I fit the new "glass" leaving a bit of space at the top (still have a tiny bit of abrasive work to do on the drivers vertical edge and the lower lip to get a nice clearanced fit) and clamped the flags in place to the bottom of the gutter trying to keep all the line plumbed, test opened and closed and tacked the flags in place. I then removed the hardware from one hinge and slid the other off its post to do the finish welding and grinding, primed the hardware and weld areas, and re assembled. I still have to aquire a 3 point l handle latch, and install a piece of angle over the slot in the TG where the window used to be to serve as a stop, a latch point, and a place to fix the bulbous rubber. As for the TG itself, without the window gear in there, I can operate the linkage as it is for now, and it gives me tons of options when it comes to fabbing a new TG operator. I am thinking something like a 60 series where the window has to be opened first to get to the TG latch. Best part is, now I also have room to fab a box or boxes to fit into the TG body to use as storage. Pics to follow.
