Tailgate

August 17/2019


    
The other day one of these was "dangling" from the bottom of the tailgate. I removed them both to deal with later.




    
They go into these notches.



    
Crappy pics, but they just clip in.



September 27/2019


Tonight when I got home from work, I opened the tailgate via the dash switch, and heard a loud clunk and some banging. I looked back and saw the top of the lift mechanism
flopping around. I had read of a few others having this problem, so I had a good idea of what happened. I removed the tailgate fuse to prevent any accidental attempt to open it.




An image I found of how somebody else repaired their problem; welded the ballmount back in place.




Diagram of the lift mechanism.





How to open the tailgate manually.
September 29/2019




Remove the access cover.



    
Push down on the lever and push open the tailgate. Have something to wedge under the tailate or else it will shut and lock on you.



    
Ballmount ripped out of its place.



    
Cracked the interior panel.



    
Tore the ballmount right out.




         
The ballmount.



October 20/2019


I haven't opened the tailgate for a few weeks now. The few times that I did, I climbed in the back and pushed the lever. Then it dawned on me that you could still use the remote to unlock the latch. Duh.
After some trial and error, here is how to do it.....


OPEN TAILGATE: CLOSE TAILGATE:
stand at the tailgate stand at the tailgate
open with the remote *
 manually push the slider to its fully down position
when the latch opens, manually lift the tailgate manually lower the tailgate to the closed position; gently release the tailgate and let the latch lock itself
* you can use the dash button, but then you have to rush to raise the tailgate before the slider gets to high



November 8/2019



    
Finally got a couple of really good images of how things should be. Thanks to helbigtw on Mazdas247.



   
Another case I found on the internet.


November 10/2019



    
Put together an assortment of washers and a nut that may be used in the repair.



November 14/2019




Cleaned up and ready to weld up.



    
Nut and washer welded together. This will replace the originl one.



    
Welded to the tailgate. The metal is very thin, so tricker to weld. It isn't pretty, but will do the job.


Need to wait for warmer/drier weather to paint and finish this off.



February 8/2020

Lighting in the cargo area is terrible, so I am adding one or two LED strips.....


    







    
LED strips from Oznium.




12v, 36", cool white.




12v, 20", side emitting, cool white.



    
The side emitting strip is going at the top of the tailgate on the interior panel.



         
Left side. Drilled a hole in the panel and the ribbing for the wire to go through, then put some hot glue on the panel
and around the wire to keep it in place. This wire doesn't need power, so I cut it, folded it back and shrink tubed it.



    
Right side. Drilled a hole in the panel and the ribbing for the wire to go through, then put some hot glue on the panel
and around the wire to keep it in place.



         
Had this 2 pin plug left over from a previous project; connected it to the right side wiring.



February 9/2020



    
All done with this part.



February 10/2020



    
Fixing the panel that broke when the liftgate ballstud broke.




The plastic pushpin that broke when the liftgate ballstud broke.



    
This LED strip keeps lifting on the ends.


February 17/2020


The side emitting LED strip would not stay stuck to the panel. I had to pull everything apart, remove the super two sided tape and put on my own
two sided tape (Pro-Form). And now it is staying stuck to the panel.



March 21/2020



















April 10/2020



    







    








Ready to go in the car.



              
    
              
Routed the wire down the right side of the tailgate, following the main harness.




My wire was a bit short, so I removed one of the zap straps.



              
    
             
         
    



    



   




Lower and side trim on.



    
All done.



    



    



         
Dusk.



         
Night.



















    
Off, on.



    



         



February 6/2021



Opened the power liftgate, it openened 6", beeped and stopped.

Tailgate Gas Strut w/ easy close
left: TD12-63-620E
right: TD12-62-620E

Tailgate Gas Strut w/o easy close
left: TD11-63-620E
right: TD11-62-620E

If you have any comments, suggestions, or see any errors, please let me know..... cbradley@telus.net

Last updated on February 12/2021

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