Rear Hatch (?)
 

Have a question for you guys. My rear hatch on the Blazer is about shot. It's cracked apart in at least three different places, and pieces are missing. What route shold I take? Should I look for a nice used one (if there available?), or a reproduction one? Has anyone purchased one of the repo. hatches? What is the quality??

Any help??

I would say your 2 options would be to invest in fixing yours or buy a repro. Finding a good used one is not very likely in my experience.

I know a couple of people have fixed theirs at a boat or fiberglass shops. No idea on the cost tho.

I'd look into getting yours fixed first. Cracks shouldn't be that hard to fix. If your missing chunks, like mine, I'd start looking for a replacement. The competion is tough because there are quite a few of us looking for the. Repro hatches start at $385 and I don't think they have any hardware or glass. If your hardware is in good shape, you might be able to sell it to offset the cost of a used replacement that already has hardware. But, I'd wait until you find a replacement before selling off your hardware.

aftermarket hatches
 

I have yet to hear of anyone buying one of thes often mentioned aftermarket hatches. If the were good seems like a fair deal when considering repairing and old hatch.

We need feedback on thes hatches.

I bought the repop hatch from Brothers a few years ago. I'm satisfied with it. My big problem was that when my old hatch went ( handle caught on some high barbed wire in the desert) the guts /hardware went all over the place. What wasn't busted was lost. So I had to go on this big safari to round up the hatch operating system pieces. If your guts and glass are intact, the swap is pretty straightforward. Most of the latch mounting holes had t/nuts in the right places. A new window gasket is a good idea if your OEM rubber is 30+ years old.

'68OrangeSunshine, do you have any pics of your hatch before & after install? Your the first person I've heard of who bought one of the repop hatches.

I had thought of a repo hatch had talked to mothertruckers who said they had sold quite a few and had put some on vehicles they had redone. Might want to check with them. I finally found hatch/ one small crack around a hinge. Handle no key/ Guts in tact for the most part but froze up. $ 198 to my door. Yes Virginia there is a Santa Claus LOL

I would also like to see this new hatch ..... H ave not seen one yet??

Sorry, no pix of the event. It happened about 3 years ago. I still don't have digital cam capability.