Range Rover pages

Tailgate

Both the top and bottom tailgate on the Range Rover Classic are prone to rusting. This can necessitate their replacement.

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Top Tailgate Swap

A fellow Register member enlisted my help for this, as it is much easier to do with two people.

The Vogue Tdi's upper tailgate was badly corroded, so that the lip holding the rubber seal had broken away.

 

This neat little tool from Snap-on extracts the studs retaining the headlining, without breaking them, to give more room to work.

Now the headlining can be eased out from its support and the side of the headlining needs to be moved down to give access to the cables, which run inside the shrouds.

There's only a single heater connection on the left side, but the right side also contains the remote locking leads in later models, which can be fiddled out of the headlining with the connector block still attached.

The top tailgate is fixed to the rear body frame by a single hinge bolt on each side, which can be loosened with a small socket wrench before disconnecting the gas struts, but don't undo them completely yet.

This is where the second pair of hands comes in, to support the top tailgate and prevent it falling when the gas struts are disconnected. Now undo the hinge bolts and remove the tailgate.

The central locking mechanism and outer handle with lock are removed from the old unit and will be transferred to the new tailgate later.

Remove the wiper blade and tie back the wiper arm to keep it out of the way when fitting the new tailgate. We needed to adjust the hinge position, to get the seal to fit properly (the middle picture shows it gaping on the left).

You can see how badly rusted the old tailgate was. After refitting the central locking mechanism, handle and exterior lock, adjusting these turnbuckles inside the lower part of the frame is how you get both catches to release simultaneously.

 

Job done! Time taken about an hour and a half. No special tools required, but copperslip grease on all the threads is a good idea to make it easier next time.