Estate tailgate hinge

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rob-81
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Estate tailgate hinge

Post by rob-81 »

Hi,
The bracket holding the hinge for my tailgate has started to fail (due to rust) and has made the tailgate very difficult to close/ I guess welding this area is tricky as lots of trim/headlining has to come off to get access to it. Has anybody had similar problems/experience of this?

Hopefully it is reasonaly fixable as a practical extate isn't so great if the tailgate can only be closed with the use of a left knee and big heave!
19 TGD estate
17 TZD Turbo hatch
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cauchoiskev
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Post by cauchoiskev »

Yeah, been there, classic estate problem.

You'll have to take off the joint and the tailgate itself ; no huge problem, although it might be possible to leave the electrical connections in place and just fold the tailgate onto the roof ?

The welding is then no trickier than anywhere else. I did it myself with an ordinary arc welder, and I'm no expert...
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Vanny
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Post by Vanny »

did a job on the AX a few months back, my experience might help.

The hinge on the AX is an Lshape affair with the bit on the car being big and flat (2x1.5") and the mount for the tailgate being scrawny and useless. This had all but failed due to fatigue/rust.

I contemplated drilling the 4 spot welds off the car and removing the whole hinge, my uncle suggested cutting the tab off and welding the new hinge to the old base. Whole job took 20 minutes (both sides), and as i was welding 2mm plate to 2mm plate it was a simple dial it up and get it hot welding job. Simply peeled the roof lining and showed a piece of scrap steel in to save the head lining burning.

some pics here;

http://bxproject.co.uk/gallery2/v/other/nige/


Simplez

Not sure how relevant this is to the estate, but might make life a little easier??
citronut
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Post by citronut »

the problem with the BX over the AX is the hindge is welded to the face panle of the boot shut and not the base section, so there is more risck of burnning the paint on the roof,

regards malcolm
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Discoil
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Post by Discoil »

Decided to have the hinge job done last year.

Lowered the roof trim and then went to the welder's place . We both took off the tailgate and I left him to it.

Roof skellied a bit, but its a working vehicle !
rob-81
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Post by rob-81 »

Thanks for that advice. Not a huge problem then. Thanks too for the link vanny. I'll popto my local welder at some point. Not too bothered about some damage to the headlining/roof. I just want the car functional.
19 TGD estate
17 TZD Turbo hatch
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