77 K5 Tailgate Help

[thr3efi5ezer0]

I have a '77 4x4 K5 with a manual crank window. Outside of the tailgate is solid and even looks nice, but the innards look like they've been soaked in battery acid. For 30 years.

I rebuilt it the best I could about 5 years ago. Put in a new crank assembly and did my best to put the window scissors mechanism back together, although it was missing a couple of rollers back then and has never exactly worked smoothly.

Now the crank mechanism is broken again, probably from the torque it took to lift the window up and down the rusty rails without rollers *at all*... It's running up and down on the roller center pins alone. I had to take the panel off inside the truck, lift the window by hand, and block it up. The tailgate hasn't been opened in 2 years. It's a real PITA.

I'm using the truck regularly now and a truck without a tailgate isn't really a truck. It's a work/trail truck, not a show queen by any means, but it still looks nice enough that I hate to scab a bright red tailgate on a Russet/White truck. And no I'm not even about to spend money on paint. I'd rather save it for lift. Although if I had to I'd spend no more than $8.83 on cheap flat black spray paint to cover any color that rejects Russet/White with a vengeance.

So basically it's a good solid functioning tailgate on the outside, but the window issue makes it unusable.

So my questions are:

*Is there any realistic way to gut the existing tailgate and replace everything inside it??? Keep in mind it's rusting from the inside out, so any mounts inside will probably have to be reinforced by welding or other time consuming fabrication.

*I know there is a huge debate over the power/manual window issue, but I really don't care as long as there's a way to get the window down in an emergency. Is there a quick way to do this with a 'frozen' power window?

*I know prices will vary wildly... how much should I expect to pay for a decent tailgate, complete, with good working window and little (functional) rust. In other words, I don't care much about it being perfectly dent free, it has to be solid and in good working order.

*Anyone in/near NC have one for sale???

 

[Hogback Fabrication]

So basically you are looking for replacement internals for your '77 manual tailgate.

You should know where to get the parts you need (junkyard, craigslist, wanted section on CK5, etc.). Parts shouldn't be very expensive, less than $50 if I had to make a guess.

 

[thr3efi5ezer0]

So basically you are looking for replacement internals for your '77 manual tailgate.

You should know where to get the parts you need (junkyard, craigslist, wanted section on CK5, etc.). Parts shouldn't be very expensive, less than $50 if I had to make a guess.

Refresh my memory though... Isn't there a certain level of internal rust that prohibits any rebuilding no matter how good your replacement internals are??? Any chance there are 'tutorials' or papers on CK5 that would show me how to replace the internals without having to create new swear words? I seem to recall replacing the crank mechanism as something that took a contortionist with 7 fingers on each hand. ???

 

[jonathon]

I'm kinda curious too.. I'm totally rebuilding mine, got most of the parts however in the rails the sash is SHOT. I don't recall seeing any rollers or anything like that either..

However my shell is PERFECT.. only had to fix the two common stress cracks at the top corners.

 

[smalltowncowboy]

if any of you are interested i have a 73 blazer gate with good internals, decent exterior but no glass.

 

[thr3efi5ezer0]

if any of you are interested i have a 73 blazer gate with good internals, decent exterior but no glass.

Sorry! I updated my location in my profile... I'm in NC and I doubt I could afford to ship an entire tailgate... although if a '73 has the same internals, how much would you want for them and how large of a container would be needed for shipping? I have good glass.

Thanks!

 

[rjpastor]

If all else fails...

If the junkyards, ebay, etc fail, there's always LMC. They have all (or least most) of the parts, etc. If nothing else their blow up pictures of the parts have been a big help to us while working on our POS rear window.