Like many FSJ owners, I had tailgate window issues. It would make a lovely popping/grinding noise whenever I put the window up. In order to get it into position, I consistently had to grab the top of the window and pull it up at least halfway while engaging the key in the tailgate. Not fun, of course. I started by dropping the window and the tailgate. I ordered a tailgate channel from BJ's last week so that when I dove in, I'd have the materials I needed.
The first step is to drop the tailgate and remove the carpet and the access panel. Just take out the fourteen screws holding the chrome metal strips in place on the carpet, and then take off the twelve that hold the access panel. Stay organized, however, because these screws are at specific lengths to avoid hitting anything of the internal workings of the tailgate itself. Here's what I found.
Notice on the left that the window is not sitting in the black lifter channel. That was a sign of more serious internal problems. Once I disengaged the safety killswitch on the driver's side of the tailgate, I was able to get the window up while the tailgate itself was down. This gave me better access to the window mechanism.
Reaching my arm in on the driver's side, I was able to feel around a bit and discover that the end of the lifter channel was not in the slot that extends the length of the tailgate. That slot is what keeps the channel in place during its up and down movements. It also makes sure that the window itself is in alignment when it slides up into the body and the roof line.In the pic below, notice the two large gears with the 1 1/4" flatstock steel bars. As the motor rotates the driver's side gear, it moves the flat bars which are attached to the lifter channel via small bolts and a pair of spring-loaded washers.
Here's a shot of the passenger side where the lifter channel meets up with the flat steel bar. The arrow is pointing to the washers that slide in a slot (just above and extended to the right of the arrow itself). That's what it should look like.
Here's the driver's side. Not quite right. Notice the lifter bar is to the left of the slot that the bolt should ride in (see the red arrow). I was able to discern that the top washer had popped off, which in turn made the bolt disengage from the lifter channel slot. After a bit of rearranging of the internals, I was able to get the lifter channel above and to the left of the lifter bar, exposing the bolt that should have been in the slot. (Are you following any of this?) Once I had somewhat clear access to it, I went at it with my sawzall and long blade. The only tricky part was when I had to use my fingers to align the blade with the bolt. Needless to say, I kept my other hand quite clear of the trigger, just in case.
I was able to cut the bolt flush with the steel bar, but the remaining portion of the bolt still refused to dislodge. My only recourse was to drill through the tailgate wall just above the bolt and then drill out the bolt. On my first attempt, I was a little high so I had to drill a second access hole. I'm sure there are more elegant and less invasive solutions, but I wasn't having them. In this pic, as well, you cansee the slot that bolt rides in (to the left of the drill bit).
Digging through some old hardware, I came up with this pile. The brass flared washer is the key. It fits perfectly in the slot and will alow it to slide. The bolt itself is an allan head, which allows me to hold it in place more easily than if I a regular hex head bolt. A few regular washers round out the kit.
Once the bolt and washers were in place, I hit it with the grease gun and almost immediately had better sliding action, but the window still didn't work as I well as I wanted it to. The grinding noise during upward motion remained, so I dropped the tailgate and investigated further. This is what I discovered.
Where I'm pointing here with the screwdriver is the motor gear, which rotates the larger of the main gears, which in turn rotates the smaller one at the top of the pic, lifting the window. The plate on which the motor gear was mounted (below the two main gears) was deflecting to the point that the motor gear itself was not fully engaged with the larger lifter gear. My "what do I have nearby that will fit" solution was simple: two strips of 3/8"x2"x12" plywood wedged between the motor (electrical, so the wood won't hurt it) and the outside wall of the tailgate. This pushed the plate towards the lifter gears by about 3/8". I also took the time to clean out the lifter channel where the window had separated from it, then added some black silicon adhesive to hold it in. After cycling the window up and down a few times to fully seat the window in the channel slot, it was good to go.
I added little green grease, and now I'm done. After buttoning the tailgate back up, I had a fully compliant tailgate window. I think when I'm bored and in the mood for some quick little project, I'll open the tailgate back up and glue the plywood strips together and use some silicon adhesive to hold the plywood to the tailgate wall.
