Ok, so my 91 Firebird has been giving me trouble with the hatch pull down motor or the wiring to it. I was wondering if there was a way to just have it latch with out the pull down motor. I think it would be less of a headache. I dont remember if my 85TA had a motor back there, can i just swap one from an older car?
Thanks
Dennis

 

I swapped in a manual latching assembly into my Formula. I had to remove the bracket for the pull down, then weld in the bracket for the manual like the 82-85 cars had, adjust the latch with the hatch closed and now it's a manual and works great! much more simple and reliable than the pull down assembly.

 

ughh, i hate seeing the word weld in, espically since i am still just learning how to weld... mabye I will just try and fix it, idk...
Thanks for the advice

 

fix it man! the hatch pulldown is soo cool. its amazing that the thing about my car that gets the most ooohs and aaaahs from my friends is the hatch pulldown.

 

Here are the instructions for a manual hatch.


1: Unplug power from hatch pull-down motor.


And that's about it.

 

ScottyRS That is what I have now, it sits an inch or two above where it should be, maybe i should just adjust it better.

MonteMan357 I think you need a few things to make your car stand out a little better... haha jp

 

Mine was all busted up, so I just ran a screw through each side
of the rails once I figured out where it should be to hold my hatch
at the right level. Works great!

 

 

Go to Top Down Solutions. Link at the top of page. Email Lon, he knows a good bit about these motors. I recently bought a hatch motor rebuild kit from him. My works great and trouble free thanks to Lon at TDS. Give him a shout.

 

I honestly dont think it is the motor, I bought one off here from a member that I trust and have bought many other parts from. I have a feeling that the trouble is in the wiring. I will give him a shout and see what he says,
Thanks

 

If you just unplug the motor, the gears will work themselves out, and the latch will sit too high. I can't remember specifically what I did, but to eliminate that on one of mine, I took the motor apart and did something to prevent it from turning. If you do that, then the assembly will not ratchet itself up over time.

 

The hatch pull down motor is one of the dumbest ideas GM has ever come up with. The only plus I have ever found it had was that when closing the doors with the windows up, it helped equalize pressure. People would always slam mine and eventually it broke the motor, it pissed me off to do it, being that the car has 75k and is almost completly stock and in mint shape for a 87', but i welded the rails in place then adjusted the bolts so it was tight. I love it now! Works great and won't break.

 

Actually, it's a good idea, just a poorly (read: cheaply) engineered product. That hatch glass is expensive, and if you slam the hatch, you can break it. This eliminates that problem. I know in my car, with the new rubber gasket, it is NOT easy to close the hatch without slamming it. I'm thinking about swapping to the motorized pulldown, although if I do I'll probably find a new way to do it.

 

I welded the rails on mine.


Since I am not a good welder, one of my welds broke after a year so I just repaired the one from my parts formula and put it in the 88.

 

My beat up 88 only had a problem with the pull down once.
180k on it now.

it was simply because the plug had come loose. I tie strap made sure it never had a problem again.

I like the pull down. My 99 Trans AM doesn't have one and I feel uncomfortable closing the hatch.

 

Heeey i think my car stands out a little bit at least Meanie

 

My father was showing my son the dangers of the power pull down by putting a pencil under the hatch and letting it crush the pencil. The hatch jammed, had to get another from the junkyard.

 

Same here........Drilled and used bolts.

 

Mine was such a mess that it was actually quite sad. I couldn't open the trunk for the first couple of weeks even. So what I did is what most of these guys did, just screw the lock assembly down. But, I had a further problem, the lock was totally busted as well. If you run into this, here is what I did. I took the latch, and found the part of it that unlocks it inside of the housing. Then, I tied in a piece of hood opening wire to it, so all I have to do is pull the wire, and my hatch opens. there is no lock in the keyhole, and you can't open it from outside, but at least it is able to be opened, and stays shut and watertight (in Fl, watertight is important, unless you want an aquarium back there).

 

8 year old zombie thread with no apparent reason....ugh.