Tailgate; electric wondow to manual window conversion?

[Psycho71]

Will the manual guts out of the tailgate of a Blazer swap into where the electric guts come out of a burb tailgate?

Anyone?

I am sick and tired of fighting with the electric window on my burb, and swapping to cargo doors is going to be more work than I'm willing to undertake at this point. I need a solution that no longer involves the electric window. open to other practical ideas as well.

Thanks for any advice.

[iveyftp]

im not sure about the manual to power working but i had the same problem in a blazer i owned prolly ten years ago. i ended up taking the cable loose from the window motor and running it into the cab. i would then use a battery operated drill to turn it to roll the window up and down. ha i know its ghetto but heck i was young and it worked perfect.

[iveyftp]

i stole your signature and put it on my facebook about a month ago btw. haha everyone liked it.

[RuthlessSuburban88]

i had an issue on my electric tailgate window as well.. i figured out what was wrong, turns out that the sensor or whatever it is, is on the right side and sometimes the tailgate wont close all the way preventing the window from working.. as long as that right side of the tailgate is closed it should work.. just a thought, your might not be that easy but i hope it is! GoodLuck!

[Psycho71]

Well, I've bypassed the sensor in the bottom that limits it's downward travel. I have bypassed the switch in the tailgate itself and now it only uses the switch in the dash, I have replaced all the bad connections from the PO's previous attempts to fix it, and have replaced the drive motor as well. I have had the whole assembly apart numerous times, greased it, adjusted the spring tensioner, etc.. It still acts up. Funny, when it decides to just quit working, I can get mad and kick the tailgate right where the motor is and it will start again. Like the transmission is hanging up or something. I am just sick of fighting with. I have a drawer system I just built in the back area of the burb, and I can't use it when out hunting and such because i never know when the window will decide not to work, locking me out of access to my gear.

I looked through my LMC books, and they have manual components listed for both the blazer and the burb. They only list one part number for a tailgate that supposedly fits all burbs. So I can only assume that the regulator and handles will swap from electric to manual without much issue. I guess I'm gonna gamble and order the stuff if I can't find one in a wrecking yard this week. I'll report my findings.

Still open to input though. Any advce that might save me more frustration is welcome.

[RandyP]

My experience is with a K5 that had a power rear window. I got my hands on a used tailgate that was manual and started swapping stuff out. I did end up having to buy the exterior handle and a few pieces for the handle linkage from LMC, but otherwise is a simple swap out. Seems the exterior handles are a common thing to break, so finding a good one on a used gate is slim to none. The prices of those parts are stupid high, seems all in all I spent about $400 swapping mine over. But by golly when I was done it went up and down with a crank, every time.

[RuthlessSuburban88]

Originally Posted by Psycho71

Well, I've bypassed the sensor in the bottom that limits it's downward travel. I have bypassed the switch in the tailgate itself and now it only uses the switch in the dash, I have replaced all the bad connections from the PO's previous attempts to fix it, and have replaced the drive motor as well. I have had the whole assembly apart numerous times, greased it, adjusted the spring tensioner, etc.. It still acts up. Funny, when it decides to just quit working, I can get mad and kick the tailgate right where the motor is and it will start again. Like the transmission is hanging up or something. I am just sick of fighting with. I have a drawer system I just built in the back area of the burb, and I can't use it when out hunting and such because i never know when the window will decide not to work, locking me out of access to my gear.

I looked through my LMC books, and they have manual components listed for both the blazer and the burb. They only list one part number for a tailgate that supposedly fits all burbs. So I can only assume that the regulator and handles will swap from electric to manual without much issue. I guess I'm gonna gamble and order the stuff if I can't find one in a wrecking yard this week. I'll report my findings.

Still open to input though. Any advce that might save me more frustration is welcome.

Oh God! i pray i never have to deal with that..im surprised that it still doesn't work if youve replaced everything.. maybe its getting hung up on something, stupid idea but ill throw anything out there! haaha

[Psycho71]

Oh I hear ya on trying anything. I have, and add to that, everything but total replacement of all components. I figure it's time to do something like that, and I'll be danged if I'm putting more of the same kind of stuff in there. Actually, it would then be cheaper re-popped stuff than the OE stuff was. So it looks like I'm going to be doing a swap to manual control.

[Psycho71]

Update.

After about three weeks of the window not operating at all, I had to crawl in the back, take my drawer system apart from inside the burb with the tailgate window stuck in the up position so i could get into the tailgate. I disconnected the window so it would lower and I get even get the tailgate open. I got my battery charger, ground it to the motor itself, and used a small jumper to each terminal. it would try to run, but wouldn't travel the arms more than an inch before it would quit. So I pulled the motor, tested it with zero load on it, and got the same results. So I need a new motor, good thing this one has a lifetime warranty.

So I thought I would go ahead and verify that the wiring, switch, and all things were doing what they should before I get the new motor and put it back in. So I connected a small LED indicator light I had left over from a past project. I grounded it to the chassis and connect one of the wires that drives the motor to it. I went up front, turned the ignition on, and hit the switch. The light lit up. I then hit the switch in the other direction, the light lit up again. Not good! So i swapped the lead feeding the light to the other wire that drives the motor, and got the same results when i hit the switch in each direction.

So it appears to me that there is a short between the two wires that is causing both of them to be energized when only one at a time should be getting power. This could certainly explain the random operation problem. I had been through all of the wiring from under the rear of the burb, all the way into the motor, and from the engine bay into the switch. So the short pretty much has to be under the burb somewhere.

I am going out to the shop today to replace the wiring all the way from the switch to the motor. Get a new motor, and give it one last attempt at a fix.

Wish me luck!

[RuthlessSuburban88]

Originally Posted by Psycho71

Update.

After about three weeks of the window not operating at all, I had to crawl in the back, take my drawer system apart from inside the burb with the tailgate window stuck in the up position so i could get into the tailgate. I disconnected the window so it would lower and I get even get the tailgate open. I got my battery charger, ground it to the motor itself, and used a small jumper to each terminal. it would try to run, but wouldn't travel the arms more than an inch before it would quit. So I pulled the motor, tested it with zero load on it, and got the same results. So I need a new motor, good thing this one has a lifetime warranty.

So I thought I would go ahead and verify that the wiring, switch, and all things were doing what they should before I get the new motor and put it back in. So I connected a small LED indicator light I had left over from a past project. I grounded it to the chassis and connect one of the wires that drives the motor to it. I went up front, turned the ignition on, and hit the switch. The light lit up. I then hit the switch in the other direction, the light lit up again. Not good! So i swapped the lead feeding the light to the other wire that drives the motor, and got the same results when i hit the switch in each direction.

So it appears to me that there is a short between the two wires that is causing both of them to be energized when only one at a time should be getting power. This could certainly explain the random operation problem. I had been through all of the wiring from under the rear of the burb, all the way into the motor, and from the engine bay into the switch. So the short pretty much has to be under the burb somewhere.

I am going out to the shop today to replace the wiring all the way from the switch to the motor. Get a new motor, and give it one last attempt at a fix.

Wish me luck!

Oh man! sounds like fun! Atleast your getting closer to the problem, i wish you luck!

[Psycho71]

Picked up the new motor yesterday evening after two attempts for the parts house to get the right one in. FYI, O'rielly's has a part number of 42-21 for this motor. But this part number is also the same for two other motors they carry. Last time I bought one, after two trips to find they'd gotten the wrong on in, I made them order all three then chose the one I needed. So i ended up going thru the same thing with them this time.

So i got the motor home, installed it in the tailgate, and everything works just fine, for now. Time will tell. If this goes south am seriously considering finding a junker burb with a straight barn door body, and swapping the entire body out. I never liked the tailgates anyway. I got a deal I couldn't refuse for this one, and now I regret it, to a point.

So it's operational, we'll see for how long.