Rear Glass Hinge broke

[BobMachus]

As I was pulling down on the rear glass this morning the driver side hinge broke right at the top of the glass. The twisting that resulted from the gas strut then partially broke the passenger side hinge. I removed the struts and unscrewed the passenger side hinge, disconnected the wiring to the defroster and rear wiper and put the window in the back to drive home. I am looking for new hinges, but in the mean time, has anyone heard of such a thing? I'm just glad the rear window didn't break. Anything tricky about installing new hinges?

Thanks

 

[joecrna]

It happens, mine did. Easy job but good parts are hard to find. Dealer parts are crazy expensive. There are several interesting alternative solutions posted on the forum.

 

[MotorCityFats13]

happened on my dads 3rd gen... he bought a new hinge from the dealer and it cost an arm and a leg.... I swapped the part in like 2 minutes... I think 3rd and 4th are basically the same setup

 

[BobMachus]

I ordered 2 NOS OEM hinges for $105 on eBay. They should arrive today or tomorrow. I just hadn't seen any mention of the 4th gen hinges failing ins spite of several different search attempts. I looks like a pretty straightforward replacement. I was just wondering if there were any tips, or tricks I should know about. Thanks for the input guys.

 

[BobMachus]

Well, that was about as easy as I could imagine. Removed old hinges, cleaned glass, replaced putty sealer on hinge and nut, screwed together snug snug, carefully pushed around to adjust alignment, tightened nuts. 30 minutes tops. It still seems odd that those hinges would fail so dramatically, it's not like this is the first vehicle with a glass lift gate.

 

[MotorCityFats13]

Totally agree and the price for them is insane... For that cost I would think they would outlast everything on the truck