Upper Hatch Damage - Need Advice/Guidance

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tarheel40 said:
Yeah the hinge area is definitely the wild card. Still bummed. Even though the outcome would be the same I wish somebody else had done it, then I wouldn’t be the dummy 😂.
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Haha. When I got back to the beach house my son (and his dipsh!t buddy that left the pass. door open) didn't want to look me in the eye....like a dog that chewed up the couch cushion when you were gone. I was surprisingly cool about it, I did/do stupids too. Still kills me a little though, that door is jacked!
 
Skniper said:
Haha. When I got back to the beach house my son (and his dipsh!t buddy that left the pass. door open) didn't want to look me in the eye....like a dog that chewed up the couch cushion when you were gone. I was surprisingly cool about it, I did/do stupids too. Still kills me a little though, that door is jacked!
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Come join the body work/donor part party, as I’m quickly learning it’s super cheap and fun 😂.
 
Change of plans, probably for the best. The body shop parts finding guru worked his magic and found an excellent donor hatch in NC prior to any repair work beginning on my hatch. The pic looks great and chrome lock strip is perfect, can’t tell if the defroster lines are messed up on the glass or hopefully just on the window tint. May still be swapping glass out and I’m sure some parts from my hatch but as @TRAIL TAILOR originally recommended I’m getting a clean donor for the repair!

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tarheel40 said:
Change of plans, probably for the best. The body shop parts finding guru worked his magic and found an excellent donor hatch in NC prior to any repair work beginning on my hatch. The pic looks great and chrome lock strip is perfect, can’t tell if the defroster lines are messed up on the glass or hopefully just on the window tint. May still be swapping glass out and I’m sure some parts from my hatch but as @TRAIL TAILOR originally recommended I’m getting a clean donor for the repair!

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I APPROVE THIS POST!!!!!!!!!!!

Good choice.

J
 
@tarheel40
Be very careful removing that tint. Those defrost lines are very, very fragile.

I found the best way is to cut a black garbage bag to fit the glass surface area. Soak film with ammonia, affix cut garbage bag to glass, place in sun and let it do its work breaking down the tint glue.

Might need a few treatments if tint is really old and baked on.
 
Get a clothes steamer. Tint basically just fell off when I did mine.
 
I had the whole cruiser (except for the front windshield) tinted with Llumar Air80 a few years ago and love it. I’ve got a great tint guy in town and am planning to play it safe, let him remove the existing tint then go back and add Air80.

I did remove the previous owners limo tint myself when I first got the 62, used a steamer and had pretty good success.
 
MWM1 said:
Correct, remove from the inside with the gasket in place pushing outward. Remove trim once glass and gasket are out. Gasket cannot be re-used.
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If y'all are talking about the rear hatch glass, the gasket can absolutely be re-used (assuming it's in decent shape and not too crusty). I've had great success on several occasions removing the rear hatch glass with gasket and trim intact, setting aside while painting/repairing the hatch, then reinstalling the glass and gasket.

It is true that the front windshield gasket cannot normally be reused, since it is typically cut away during windshield removal to reduce the odds of breaking the windshield.
 
diesellibrarian said:
If y'all are talking about the rear hatch glass, the gasket can absolutely be re-used (assuming it's in decent shape and not too crusty). I've had great success on several occasions removing the rear hatch glass with gasket and trim intact, setting aside while painting/repairing the hatch, then reinstalling the glass and gasket.

It is true that the front windshield gasket cannot normally be reused, since it is typically cut away during windshield removal to reduce the odds of breaking the windshield.
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Thanks for the info, that may end up being helpful as we are talking about the rear windshield! As clean as the chrome trim is in the donor hatch I’d love to leave it all intact if possible.

Probably a dumb question but after removing the glass and gasket can the glass be swapped out from one gasket to the other while leaving chrome trim in place? Or does that necessitate a new gasket and/or removing trim? My glass is in great shape and already tinted to match the rest of my truck, swapping my glass into the other gasket would be nice and save me getting the new one cleaned off and then re-tinted.
 
tarheel40 said:
Thanks for the info, that may end up being helpful as we are talking about the rear windshield! As clean as the chrome trim is in the donor hatch I’d love to leave it all intact if possible.

Probably a dumb question but after removing the glass and gasket can the glass be swapped out from one gasket to the other while leaving chrome trim in place? Or does that necessitate a new gasket and/or removing trim? My glass is in great shape and already tinted to match the rest of my truck, swapping my glass into the other gasket would be nice and save me getting the new one cleaned off and then re-tinted.
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I haven't tried this, but if you are careful I think it could be done. The trim is extremely thin and kinks easily, but if you are able to keep everything relatively flat as you swap the gasket from one piece of glass to the other, it should be doable.
 
I've had great success on several occasions removing the rear hatch glass with gasket and trim intact, setting aside while painting/repairing the hatch, then reinstalling the glass and gasket.

I did this on my FJ62 - worked great. You do not need to remove or disturb the chrome trim strip!

Peel the gasket from the inside using plastic bicycle tire levers and all your old flat blade screwdrivers (I'm sure the pros use screwdrivers...)

I removed the entire window/gasket/chrome assembly, and had the rust repaired around the window, and then reinstalled it all together. Use the 1/4" cotton rope method (and a helper) to reinstall the glass. Use dish soap upon reassembly to help the gasket slide over the flange, and help it with the aforementioned tire levers.

I have had no water leaks, either washing the truck or in our rare rainstorms here.
 
The donor hatch has come in so I went by the body shop to check everything out today. The hatch obviously looks much better than mine, there’s a bit of body work to do to it but they’re going to strip it to bare metal, get it perfect then paint. My glass was better than the donor glass, so the windshield is out and new gaskets are on the way. My glass will be reinstalled and the best chrome strip pieces between mine and donor hatch will be put back in.

As part of the deal the shop had to take the matching lower tailgate and I’m actually going to get them to strip and repaint it while they’re taking care of the upper hatch. My original tailgate has some cracks around body filler and we don’t know what’s underneath, the donor tailgate has no body work and what appears to be original paint. Most of my hardware looks better so I’ll keep that.

The only slight disappointment is it appears the donor hatch has some minor hinge area damage as well. Not nearly as severe as mine but the area around the hinges is slightly raised - looking at old pictures of my hatch the entire portion above the windshield should be completely flat shouldn’t it? The donor hatch doesn’t close perfectly yet, I assume due to the hinge area on the hatch and possibly where the body mounts were tweaked when the hatch got bent? Hopefully they can get it all straightened out, it’s not off a ton but doesn’t fit as well as my old hatch did at the moment. Only snapped one pic today, should have gotten more.

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Got some exciting updates this morning, the donor hatch and tailgate are all fitted nicely and everything lines up perfectly! The shop was able to get donor hatch realigned where those hinges had also been slightly tweaked. Next step is taking the parts down to bare metal, addressing any issues and then painting. We’re getting there!

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Got a few more progress pics this morning, in the paint booth! Really pleased with how clean the donor tailgate and hatch look. Should be close to getting it back on the road 🙌🏻.

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Skniper said:
Her backside will be her prettiest part! 🍑

(which is ok!!)
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No kidding, I’m going to be scared to even drive it now! Think the shop is trying to con me into painting the whole thing with the way this project is turning out 😂.
 
More progress!

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