I have a 1986 with the power pull down trunk latch that I have had to rebuild twice in 2 years. Can I replace it with a regular non pull down latch?

 

Late response but from my understanding, you can put a manual latch from an earlier year third gen in but you will have to weld in the bracket it was attached to because the bolt holes are different between the manual and power ones.
Alternatively you can pull the power from it and jam some screws through it to hold it in place and make it essentially a manual latch. If you use the search function, it’ll come up with a lot of threads about people rigging them like a manual latch.

What kits have you been using to rebuild? If you want a good quality kit to keep the power function, I highly recommend the Deluxe Hatch Pull-down kit from top down solutions. It’s very high quality and the instructions are very detailed.

 

Thanks for the info, I will try that kit. I replaced the motor and gear twice and the thing would just keep trying to pull down even when it was closed all the way.

 

I believe it could also be a problem with the reversing switch, the little switch that is tripped when the motor reaches the top or bottom of travel, but I could be remembering that wrong. Lon, the owner of top down solutions has an account on here, lonsal I believe, and is by far the best resource for these motors. Also here’s a link to a thread I found really helpful when I was working on mine, in case you haven’t seen it: Here