A Know-nothing newbie has a long question... | Ford Explorer Forums

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A Know-nothing newbie has a long question...

b-side

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October 26, 2007
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City, State
key largo, fl
Year, Model & Trim Level
'98 sport
I am not a "wrench-on-the-car" guy.

Used to be a stoned slacker, who did little of anything.

But... Four years ago, I found the right girl, cleaned up, have gotten in shape, started taking my job seriously and magically got promoted(I am now the bar manager at a private yacht club in Key Largo, Fl, to which people who knew me five years ago cannot believe), eventually turned thirty, ditched the drugs, and... ditched my piece of crap car that I had been driving/ neglecting.

I found a really nice Explorer Sport (98), that was in perfect condition three years ago, and got it for a steal, and it has treated me like a king. My girlfriend has never had a car, so we sort of shared mine, which was fine. Like I said, I'm not a car-junkie. I can change a tire, check my fluids, identify a few basic engine parts, and can tell when somethings wrong. Thats it. I certainly don't have a grasp on how things work under the hood, and with the exception of a car-wash now and then, never gave much thought to how it looked on the outside.

Well... my girlfriend finally bought a car. It's a black Jetta, with smoked tail lights and fancy sport headlights, and a fine set of black rims and low-profile tires (sorry my terminology is so bad). It's not an awsome car. But the couple of mods that were made hit home. And now that my explorer is finally ALL MINE, I'm geeked to do a few things to it myself. I found this forum and I'm now more than aware of how sweet my X can be.

Sooooo, first- sorry this was so long winded. Second, I'm going to give her a new paint job. She's going from black and gray to all black. I'm also removing the back wiper and the running boards, and this (finally) leads me to the experts on this forum. Obviously to disassemble the rear wiper you have to do it from the inside. My very beginner-ish question is ... I thought getting to the inside of my tailgate would be easy. Its not. IS there an easy way to get to that wiper assembly? I mean, you don't really just rip off the innterior plastic and hope it snaps back on, right? Or do you. Thanx for your advice and time, and I will have more (less long-winded questions) in the very near future
 



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welcome
 






First of all, congrats on your lifestyle change.

Second, if I remember correctly, you remove the pull-strap buy folding it up and removing 1 or 2 screws. When that is done, the panel should "slide" upward fairly easily about an inch and then it'll pop right out. I removed my last one about 3 years ago, but I'm fairly sure that was the procedure. If it feels like it's resistant, then take a break and see if anyone else has chimed in. I'd hate for you to break it while following my directions, lol.
 






Along with the 1 or 2 screws at the strap handle, there could also be 1 or 2 screws at the top of the panel under an access plug beside the window latch in the middle of panel. I have only removed mine once, and yes it is a little bit of a pain, but if you take your time and don't try to force things then you should be fine. Good luck and way to go on the lifestyle change.:)
 






haha. I got like, 20 views and zero responses, and got impatient. Said screw it and went ahead and got the tailgate panel off, albeit completely ass-backwards. FYI, unscrew the pull down strap, a screw up by the breaklight, and start yanking from the TOP DOWN. It's all just clamps until you get down to level with the bottom of the back window. From there you push up and lift off. Really easy unless you start ripping from the BOTTOM of the door and break some plastic (like I did). Anyway, got the wiper off (stupid thing never worked right anyway, and i NEVER needed or used it), and didn't break enough of the panel to ruin it!! It went back on and looks fine (lucky).

Thanx for responding guys. I apreciate it. My next dumb question is what to do with the wiper-hole. Do I need to weld something over that before I paint it, or can you bondo something like that...?
 






This site is divided into various sections. You will get more responses if you post questions in a section pertaining to the type of repair that you are trying to do. Things like bondo, and body repair could go into the body work section. Door panel removal could go into the interior section.
 






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