Is there a trick to removing the 4 rear hatch bolts that hold the entire thing to the hinges, or am I just a 'tard? Turning the nuts just turns the entire bolt and the head, being round, has nothing to grip onto. Plus, it doesn't make sense to grab hold of the new ones with vice grips that would just mar them...

 

can you just unbolt the hinges from the body and leave them on the glass?

 

Isn't the outer plastic piece simply a 'cap' that covers the bolt head?

EDIT: Apparently the above is not the case.

JamesC

 

the trick? a hammer.. that hatch glass is really havy anyway, so busting it up and getting rid of it will make you faster.

im kidding of course.

hmmmmm....

 

Open the hatch - and remove the hinge nuts from the car body - there's no way to remove the hinge from the hatch.

You definitely need an extra set of hands, that sucker is heavy. If your talented, you could use a couple brrom sticks to hold it up, undo the nuts, pop off the struts, and maybe HE-MAN it yourself - but you might get a hernia!

 

my philosophy here is that these parts were assembled, so there must be a way to disassemble them. Unless of course they are a type of compression attachment, rivet or sorts? then you would have to destroy them to disassemble them.

 

I just removed the rear hatch on my 1997 4 weeks ago this way, and about 5 weeks ago on my 1992 car - was adding a tad extra weatherstripping sealer to both hatch areas. Had the neighbor come help me hold - took all of 10 minutes per car.

 

I should have explained myself better... I have two of the bolts with broken plastic caps, so that the bolts are all rusted and look ugly- looks like they should be holding planks down on a pirate ship, not my hatch glass! So, I have 4 replacement bolts that have been sitting in a box for a couple of years that I want to swap over, but when I try and turn the nut underneath, the entire bolt turns!

 

Cracked me up. Would a nut splitter, such as the one below, work:

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/too...ven=Aggregates

JamesC

 

I don't think so- that still doesn't solve the problem of tightening the new ones up. I guess I will wait until paint- I need to have the glass retinted, so I will take it off them to make it easier. Hopefully, someone comes up with a solution in the meantime...

 

carefully using a dremel, cut a slot or cross for a screwdriver. soak down the bolts with wd40 and give it a shot. you are replacing with new or restored hardware right?

 

Check out this post for instructions hatch disassembly/reassembly.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/body...-question.html