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Secrets of the back hatch(rattles)

debutis

Well-Known Member
Joined
July 2, 2002
Messages
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City, State
austin, texas
Year, Model & Trim Level
98 eddie bauer
Just wondering if any of you have any secrets to keeping the back hatch from rattling. I already have a layer of dynamat on the back hatch but I think my problem is the window. When my w7 hits low and hard it seems like the window is going to shatter. When i'm standing behind the truck, i can see the window flexing in and out but when i put some pressure on the window, it quiets the rattles down CONSIDERABLY! Anyone know of a way to keep the window from flexing so much? anything you can do at all?
 



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I even put house insulation (the pink sound dampening kind) all over inside the hatch, stuff it in ther, and filled the skinny part that goes up around the window with expanding foam. Didn't seem to help at all. I too think most of my rattles come from the window, and the roof is actually flexing a lot too...
 






Ya, from what i've learned over the years, roof reinforcement is no fun.. Lots of work and lots of time. I dont want to have to go buy a new fiberglass window but these rattles have to stop!!! Which way is your sub firing?
 






my 2 12s are firing rear.
soon i'll have 1 15 firing rear, and 2 8s firing up
 






I was wondering this same thing myself.. I can't find anything that'll stop or slow down the vibration of the rear window, so I just let it be.

If it ends up breaking, I'll probably just replace it with fiber.


I get about .5" or maybe up to an inch of flex on the roof when they hit.. Never really thought about reinforcing it, I like the character it adds. I'm not going to be competing, so there's really no need.. I'm not going much bigger.
 






i'm not competing either, it just sounds crappy on the outside with rattles all over
 






Hmm.. I put dynomat on my doors, rear hatch, and the rear panels (amp on one side, rear wiper fluid on the other).

I plan on pulling the carpet up next weekend and laying some mat down there, and I know someone that can help me pull my headliner down to put some up there.

If you can find someone who knows how to pull down headliners, or don't mind paying someone to do it, then I'd recommend putting a couple layers up there and see how that does. I wouldn't recommend pulling the headliner by yourself.. I've heard that there are just too many things that could go wrong.

Just lay some more mat around every accessible area of the truck.. Should make a big difference.
 






I had two layers of dynamat in my hatch, and lined the outer edge of the window glass with weather stripping, so that the window would have to be pressed on to close (tighter seal). No rattles from my 3 12s after that.
 






Is the glass latch adjustable in any way? Could you add some spacers somewhere or something so the glass is tighter against the seal? I have 2 layers of dynamat, and no rattels at all...
 






rattles......

A quick fix for the rattles would be to wrap something around the glass striker that goes into the latch. My 92 has some felt type stuff wrapped around it and when I messed with it, it rattled like an SOB. So I re-wrapped it to where the bulk of the material was facing the latch when it shut and I haven't heard a rattle since. A small piece of Dynamat may work too. The only downfall may be that it might be a little more difficult to shut the glass at times. Hope this helps.
 






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