rsmith085

iTrader: (1)

Going to the j/y tomorrow to fix my hatch latch one way or another... my hatch motor's gear nut crapped out and the guides, well whats left anyways is laying in the bottom of the hatch. I've searched and all I could find was to either bolt or weld the pull down to make it fixed. Nothing wrong with that but I'd rather have the regular latch. Anyways has anyone swapped to a regular latch and if so how'd ya do it? The only hang up I could see is that the pull down version uses a cable from the lock cylinder while the regular one has a shaft/spindle from the cylinder to the latch. I know I can get the cylinder rekeyed but I'm trying to avoid that expense if possible and hope I can use my original lock cylinder.

gotabekidding

Yes I have!

You know the 3rd gens are the only generation that has been blessed with this engineered p.o.s.!

I believe 85 and older do not carry the auto pull down latch.
You have to remove the metal bracket that holds the latch, it spot welds to the body of the car. A cordless drill with a step drill works great.
You will also need the catch that bolts to the hatch (different lengths)
The latch and the little rod that goes from the lock cylinder to the latch itself.

You will have to remove the mounting bracket that is spotwelded to your car to install all your new found parts.

Not a lot of people want to do this to thier cars, so make up your mind before you do any drilling.

I have a bracket and latch assembly out of a car that I can take a pic of , if you want

bracket rs

iTrader: (2)

i loose'nd the bolts holding the motor, push the motor up as far as it will go and re-tighten the bolts, unplug the motor, hatch shuts fine....no pull down........but i do think you have to not have a broken gear for this, i bought a gear on ebay for $15.00

rsmith085

iTrader: (1)

Yeah I seen that out at the j/y this morning that the bracket the latch bolts to is way different between the two. So I did what I had to and raised the latch up about a 1/8". Where the guides were missing I made some wedges out of 1/4" thick red oak I had lying around and knocked them in place to keep it from rattling around. Works perfectly I can close it quite easily without having to slam it the first bit and it latchs beautifully. Also I had to unplug the motor as it was wanting to run constantly, I already had done that yesterday morning when it crapped out on me though