Liftgate conversion to a tailgate/liftgate split

[withers]

Anyone thought of chopping the liftgate in half and remounting the bottom portion to some hinges in the sides and then reshaping the upper window and frame to fit snug? Just a big thought. It would function like the Excursion rear end(or the tahoes/suburbans). For that matter you could go all the way and redo the entire back end to have ambulance doors. Actually I don't like the latter idea, but the former has potential.

I like having a tailgate like pickups to sit on. I know that the window in the back opens seperately and gives you some good accessability, but what do you do at a ballgame? You open the whole rear door and sit under this huge shade thing. I would like a platform to sit on and enjoy the tailgating. I hope this is an original idea. I did a short search and found nothing.

What do ya think?

 

[SVO42]

Bump!

I'm looking at buying an Explorer soon, but I wish Ford had made the back end a tailgate and not a liftgate. Anyone done this? I've seen some hacked up Xs on here, but no tailgate conversion pics. Am I going to have to be the first?

 

[Alec]

You may be able to adapt a Ranger tailgate and leave the top half of the Explorer hatch.

Just a thought.

 

[tomblin1]

Ive been using my '93 for tailgating for 8 years now. I actually like the liftgate. It offers nice shade for the hot days and to get it wide open you only have to open one door as opposed to two everytime.

I agree that the 2 doors opening side by side sucks. Close the wrong one first a couple of times and you can bang the hell out of them.

 

[section525]

Like when those quad cab and third door trucks first came out. That took those youngins some time to figure out you need to close the rear door(s) before the front one...

 

[410Fortune]

That is my plan, but with a BII.

First I was planning to chop the top like every other 4x4 BII thats built, but then I figured I live in CO and winter sucks in a soft top. So do long highway trips.

Ford origianlly designed the BII to have re-movable side windows, but it never made it into production.
SOme of the BII's have a lift gate with lift up glass like you Explorers.
Now with the windows out and the rear glass up, thats like a hard bikini top, great setup!

However I too would love to have a tailgate that folds down and also a bed x tender for more cargo, tailgating, etc.....

Well luck would have it a Ranger tailgate from similar years will actually bolt into a BII! So all thats left is to cut and fab the top half fiberglass and fabricate a latch mechanism to lock them together (chevy donor?)

I will make the top half of the hatch re-movable so I can take out the side windows and top of the hatch, and save my hardtop from the sawzall...

This project is down the road a ways, first comes the roll cage and to finish the interior but it is part of my 10 year plan (currently year 7)

 

[Doug]

I'm curious, how did ford plan to make the rear windows removeable? I dont know how the rear windows on explorer's compare to BII windows but i'm willing to bet theyre similiar.

 

[410Fortune]

They are far from similar.

it is true, a few years back somebody posted that they had an option with removeable windows. Wellit turns out actually that the 1986 Bronco II owners manual has pages in it showing you how to remove the windows! Completel with locking hinges, etc...

we did some research and found a lady at Ford who had some info for us. Ford has some safety and leak problems with teh concept and at the last minute pulled it from production.
They also ran several magazine ads that showed the BII with teh windows out.

Lucky for us, the 86-90 models still ahve windows that are actually bolted in. If you gain access to the bolts, it is VERY simple to remove the side wondows. there was even a plan to have a storage bag in the cargo area to keep them in.......

Several BII enthusiasts have since performed this mod and until I had seen it with my own eyes I planned to swazall the top off my truck, but no more!

I have pictures of the owners manual pages and a BII with the windows out...I will post them ASAP.....

 

[Doug]

Thats pretty cool, any idea what holds the windows in on the explorers? I was thinking that would be pretty cool to do on my truck till i realized i'd end up getting my interior dirty and would also make it real tempting for the low lifes around here to steal my stuff.

 

[410Fortune]

The Ex windows are held in with rubber trim and glue, not gonna work.

Thats the beautyof the BII, the window frame is apart of the glass, so once its bolted in from the inside you would have to break it to get in the truck...

Let me find that online pick......

 

[410Fortune]

here's the original BII owners manual with the diagrams of the removable rear windows (never made it to production)

Still looking for pictures of a really cherry BII with the windows out...


http://broncoiipopoutsidewindow.homestead.com/index.html