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Barn doors on a Blazer

Is it honestly that hard to fix the rear window right one time?

They lasted 100+k miles the first time and then break. It happens. I see people always hating on them, 100k is longer than 90% of people even own a vehicle. Just fix it correctly the first time and it will work the rest of the time you own the vehicle.
 
454Sub said:
Is it honestly that hard to fix the rear window right one time?

They lasted 100+k miles the first time and then break. It happens. I see people always hating on them, 100k is longer than 90% of people even own a vehicle. Just fix it correctly the first time and it will work the rest of the time you own the vehicle.
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It's not too hard to rebuild a window. But I dislike rear windows even when they work perfectly. They work for some situations but not for the ways I use my truck. I'm the guy who would have spent that 100k miles grumbling and waiting for it to break so I could redo it. :crazy:
 
I've kept my K5 electric rear window working for going on 2 decades. It works fine right now, FWIW. Here's why I'm interested in a swap:
  • Stupid keyswitch fails every 6 years or so. Getting it out to clean/rebuild is a PITA
  • Even with good seals and felts, rolling a back window up and down with dirt on it eventually scratches it. And on dirt roads, the back window is always dirty.
  • Sooner or later, the back window won't move (wiring, safety switch, keyswitch, cable, etc.) This will happen in a downpour or -20F and you have to take the tailgate apart, which cuts into your adventure time.
  • The latch mechanism inside the tailgate can be hard to operate, even when you lube and align everything. When the back end is loaded full of stuff, it can be hard to move it all out of the way of the latch to pull the handle - especially as the truck gets taller.
  • When I camp out the truck, I have a sleeping platform on the top of the wheel wells and tons of gear underneath. To open the tailgate requires rolling down the window, which opens up the sleeping area to outdoors. With lift glass and pickup tailgate, the gear can be accessed without compromising the warmth/privacy (I wake up earlier than my wife).
  • The lift glass offers a bit of rain and sun protection on the open back end, where my gear/bed is.
  • The setup is a lot lighter and doesn't require the assist springs. When the hard-top is off, all the associated weight is also gone.
  • To load long cargo in the back with tailgate up means the cargo can hit the top of the glass.
  • To open the back of the K5 with electric window requires a key and some time. With lift-glass it's quick/easy.

To be fair, here are the drawbacks I consider:
  • With a spare tire carrier bumper, the tire has to swing out to access the back end. With the roll-down window, you can leave the tire in place and access the back.
  • The window can be rolled down or put up while driving, using the dash switch.
  • Locking everything requires an additional key.
  • Lift glass looks less stock
  • Plexi might be more prone to scratching, although without rolling up and down, scratching may be less likely overall.
  • Matching the tint of the hard-top side windows
  • Overall sealing is more of an unknown compared to a restored stock setup.
 
campfire said:
It was last fall, but yeah, I did that conversion. It was easier than I thought it would be, and it looks like any generic stock pickup topper.
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How are you sealing the bottom corners? Is there any bow to your topper glass? Mine seems to bow inward along the bottom and I'm wondering if this will make it hard to latch or if that's intentional for better sealing in the middle.
 
Blue85 said:
How are you sealing the bottom corners? Is there any bow to your topper glass? Mine seems to bow inward along the bottom and I'm wondering if this will make it hard to latch or if that's intentional for better sealing in the middle.
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I have nothing special, just the standard rubber 1/8" bubble extrusion. My window and my tailgate are both straight/parallel and they're within 1/16" of square.

I wouldn't prefer a bowed door.
 
As I said before, my tailgate sits 3/8" forward of the glass due to not wanting to cut slots for the K5 bump stops. So there's an 1/8" gap between the rubber and the liftgate bottom until I get my truck tailgate moved up here.


Speaking of which....if you bring the tailgate up you can see the final product in person.
 
I'll offer this having recently gone from work truck to work van. I can't stand the barn doors on the van. Wind is always catching them so you have to be on point. When they hit you in the back of the legs mucho anger incurs. I mis my work truck tailgate
 
I see one here in Denver often with the barn doors, it is always at the Harbor Freight close to me. Actually tripped on a sidewalk curb looking at it.
 
Big Ray said:
Yeah you can...

View attachment 424188
Click to expand...
Having loaded this you can understand why he said you can't.
It's a lot harder, you need longer forks or someone who knows how to use the tip of the forks to lift and slide forward.
It's the same as a pickup truck except on the pickup if you really want to, you can pull the tailgate out quickly then put it back on
 
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