Finally doing the liftgate swap! Need some help on a few things

[BrianDye]

Well I asked him in an email to send a pic, and he said hes not there right now so he cant, but he said its not even worth messing with, its over a foot & a half dent.

I told him im still interested in the rear bumper, light, and the side glass, so ill still probably get that stuff.


Greaaattttt. Now where the hell do I find a black liftgate?

 

[CDW6212R]

Sorry you lost the hatch. If you will still do it, see about getting the key cylinder so that you can have the lock tumblers changed to fit your key. I don't know if the 95-97 keys will work in the 98-01 locks, but a locksmith would know. You would have to R&R that anyway on whatever hatch you find, might as well have it ready to swap. If he wants too much for it of course, skip it.

 

[BrianDye]

Whats the key cylinder? Isnt that built into the "button" for the glass?

 

[CDW6212R]

Yes, and that contraption is expensive to buy, lots of little parts. If you could get the main section where the key goes, you could see about making it work with your keys. A locksmith can very easily change a normal door cylinder, but that may be different.

 

[BrianDye]

As long as it locks/unlocks with the fob, or button, it'l be good for the time being lol

 

[CDW6212R]

I know, I never use that, but have about twice. It's just a shame someone killed the hatch.

 

[kevinspann]

Sorry you lost the hatch. If you will still do it, see about getting the key cylinder so that you can have the lock tumblers changed to fit your key. I don't know if the 95-97 keys will work in the 98-01 locks, but a locksmith would know. You would have to R&R that anyway on whatever hatch you find, might as well have it ready to swap. If he wants too much for it of course, skip it.

Don, the 95-97 keys will fit in the 98-01 Locks, so i see no reason why it wont work if the lock cylinder can be re-keyed.

I've had a hatch sitting in the house for several months, waiting for me to try to swap it on, so I guess I'm next in line to try.

-The plugs under the headliner for the wiring are the same, but have wires in different positions, so they may have to be re-pinned.

-There is not a rear wiper pump/reservoir in the 1998-01 models like there are in the earlier ex's but I think that will be okay.

-Wiring for the rear license plate in the hatch is obviously not there in the earlier models either. I see no reason why that wiring can't be brought up from the rear bumper to the plug behind the headliner.

 

[CDW6212R]

That's good about the keys. I knew the new keys would work in old hatches, I have 1999 keys and a 1991 hatch, with 1997 internal hatch parts.

Ford did more than add or remove wires etc, in the hatches. The wires do not all come in at the same place, or connector, in all hatches. The same goes for the wiper washer hose, some go in the left, some on the right. The point is that you can rearrange those things to work. Just be ready for it and don't expect to make it a fast swap.

You can and should dig into the hatches first and see the wiring etc. Plan for how things may need to be changed.

I have put off doing my 03+ Sport hatch glass because of the wiper controls. I have the 03 hatch wiring and washer nozzle, but the GEM control is different for later 03+ models. It's just part of our hobby.

 

[blueka]

The UK explorers have licence plate wiring on the hatch from 97-01, so we're slightly different. The only reason I changed the locks was for ease, rather than taking all the locks to pieces, I found it easier just to change the locks on my 97 and be done with it. I extended the hose for the rear washer and that solved that problem. Everything else apart from the top brake light was ok.

Si

 

[BrianDye]

Im not too worried about all the wiring, as long as I have a diagram, im good at splicing. I dont mind running the wires from the license plate lights up from the bumper either.

As for the wiper, that'l be easy, I can just get some hose, and a connector and that would probably take 10 minutes tops.

And for the key, thanks for all the input guys it really does help, like I said though im not too worried about that haha, I cant imagine a locksmitch charging less than like a hundred bucks.

Im stilllllll looking for one, sent a mass email to all the junkyards in MICHIGAN about it, never got any replies yet

 

[CDW6212R]

You can do it, with all the other things you've worked on. Just looking at the two hatches and the wiring will make it simple to see what to do.

I paid a $40 charge for a locksmith to meet me, they will basically go anywhere usually. I had the cylinders in my hand for him, so there was no other charge besides the tumbler labor. I think my total was about $65, it took him about 45 minutes to do three cylinders.

Those rear cylinder parts look hard to work with if you are not familiar with them. That's why I suggest buying the one there if it's under about $20. The locksmith could spend quite a bit of time just figuring out how to remove the thing. You could do that yourself and save paying for that.

 

[BrianDye]

YESSSSSSSSSS! I think I might have found one, plus this ones right around the corner in Flat Rock.

Im kinda scared though, one pic makes it look navy blue, while the other brighter pic makes it look black

 

[Nixthebomb]

Did you go ahead and go get the rear glass and bumper from the other one? or are you just wanting to do a single pull?

 

[BrianDye]

Wooooo-Whoooo lol

guy called me back from the ad, said 150$ for the whole tailgate, side glass, and taillight the bumper is a chrome one so I might stick around on criagslist til a black one comes by or I might just sand the chrome one and paint it or get it painted

 

[Nixthebomb]

150 not to bad, though I think I like my 50 more, lol but I only had to get a hatch

 

[BrianDye]

Lol I was gonna say yea 150$ for everything, he only wanted like 75$ for the hatch alone.

I cant believe I was thinking people/junkyards were gonna want 200$ for it or somethin haha

 

[BrianDye]

Waitin for my buddy to get here with his truck so we can leave, I just thought of something...this ones not a sport so I cant get the back glass

But then I thought, theres tons of sports with the hatch i want (but diff colors) at my junkyard so I can get it there this weekend

 

[sport97]

I'm interested in seeing how this goes. I have a lot of rust on my rear bumper and wouldn't mind doing this swap rather than just my bumper if its not too hard and is under 150. My problem is the color. I don't think they made metallic willow after 97

 

[BrianDye]

Mother-F! So after circling around trying to find this place we get there, the people loomed so confused when I was trying to tell them I was the one coming for the explorer hatch, anyways we get to the explorer, looks decent from a few steps back but I get up close, the wiper arm is shot to hell and back with rust, there were no struts for the window, the handle wouldn't even open the door, and it was dented and rusted to he'll along the bottom where that ugly plastic trim was 2 hours of my day wasted for absolutely nothing

 

[deamon3]

Honestly there's a junkyard nearby here that has dozens of those explorers in it so don't freak it's definitely not the last one. Last time I asked they wanted something like 110 for the entire rear gate.