Tailgate lock

[Longroof79]

Jack, I agree with not ruining a back panel unless it was absolutely necessary. I am sure that the lock mechanism can be operated by a wire or cord from outside the door. It will mean opening the panel and eyeballing it all. If it can be routed down to the bottom, where it hangs out a tiny bit, that would be ideal. Or maybe tucked behind the bumper? Or even make an access hole BEHIND the license plate? Unscrew plate, pull wire, open door. I like that idea even more. I have only had one instance where the window would not stay locked. After a lot of grief I fixed it. But the OP's situation has me worried. This needs to be explored further.

Mark,
It has me thinking more and more about it. I too would like to explore the possibilities. Unfortunately, I don't have a spare tailgate to experiment with.
Having an old one at my disposal. I'd be able to devise something I'm sure. Something like a pull cord/ cable, like you suggested, would do the trick.
I donated my spare tailgate to a friend that had a damaged tailgate. It went to a good home. He probably still has his old one. Perhaps I could pick his brain on a possible solution.
I like the idea of the cable situated behind the bumper and through the lower tailgate through a grommet. To be continued.

 

[Bonnewagon]

Hey Jack I just thought of something. Every time my Jeep hood latch cable broke, the only way to get the hood open was to yank the cable end out of the kick panel, hold the cable casing with pliers, grab the broken end of the inner cable, and pull enough to pop the hood. The last time it failed I took the broken cable end, and ran it down to the driver side inner fender. I put the cable into the broken mount from the kick panel so it would act as a stop, ran the inner cable through a hole in the inner fender, and clamped that end to a ring of strap iron so I could put my finger in to pull the cable. It worked so well I never replaced the OEM cable into the kick panel. I figured if that failed I still have the wire concealed along the hood. But it has been years now and no problems. So what kind of cable could we use to open our wagon rear door? How about a bicycle brake cable? It has a stranded steel inner cable, a wound steel housing, can be clamped in place, ran anywhere, and you could even mount a bicycle brake lever somewhere hidden to open the lock. This is getting interesting.

 

[Longroof79]

Hey Jack I just thought of something. Every time my Jeep hood latch cable broke, the only way to get the hood open was to yank the cable end out of the kick panel, hold the cable casing with pliers, grab the broken end of the inner cable, and pull enough to pop the hood. The last time it failed I took the broken cable end, and ran it down to the driver side inner fender. I put the cable into the broken mount from the kick panel so it would act as a stop, ran the inner cable through a hole in the inner fender, and clamped that end to a ring of strap iron so I could put my finger in to pull the cable. It worked so well I never replaced the OEM cable into the kick panel. I figured if that failed I still have the wire concealed along the hood. But it has been years now and no problems. So what kind of cable could we use to open our wagon rear door? How about a bicycle brake cable? It has a stranded steel inner cable, a wound steel housing, can be clamped in place, ran anywhere, and you could even mount a bicycle brake lever somewhere hidden to open the lock. This is getting interesting.

Mark,
I like the way you think, my friend. I was also thinking in terms of a braided type cable...like a bicycle brake or shift cable. We'll have to determine how much force is involved to deactivate the tailgate latch. A bicycle brake or shifter does not required much force to operate.
I like the way you devised an alternative hood release for your jeep. It sounds more efficient than the factory setup. I like it.

 

[Ribbedroof]

Before you start drilling a perfectly good lock cylinder what exactly is the problem? Key won’t turn? “Wings“ turn but nothing happens? Weatherstrip putting too much pre-load on gate to be able to turn the cylinder? These are common scenarios with truck tailgates because they never get lubricated. I just did one yesterday

 

[JD1964]

It might be possible to install a linear actuator in there and wire it to a release button for and additional means to open. That being said, a manual backup release could still be part of the plan too.

 

[Bonnewagon]

One fly in the ointment is: doesn't the latch wing handle turn clockwise to open the window, and counter-clockwise to open the door? Or vise-versa? Can the door lock be unlocked without unlocking the glass first? If an electric door lock was offered, how did it affect the glass? My wagon is covered up for the winter, and I can't remember what is what.

 

[JD1964]

Before you start drilling a perfectly good lock cylinder what exactly is the problem? Key won’t turn? “Wings“ turn but nothing happens? Weatherstrip putting too much pre-load on gate to be able to turn the cylinder? These are common scenarios with truck tailgates because they never get lubricated. I just did one yesterday

Wings won’t turn with key in cylinder.

When this assembly was previously working, the key cylinder never turned independently of the wings. When the key was in, the wings would turn and glass would open. Turn wings opposite direction, gate would open. The locking function would happen by simply removing the key. I don’t know but was this the proper function?

Anyway, now the wings won’t turn in either direction with or without the key in the cylinder.

 

[JD1964]

Counter clockwise for glass, then clockwise for gate. If I remember correctly, when you turned clockwise first the gate would unlatch but the glass latch would still be holding on preventing you from opening the gate. So, you have to go counter clockwise and open glass first, then clockwise for gate.

 

[JD1964]

Btw, if you remember me telling you earlier that this lock assembly was replaced by me once already. The previous lock cylinder had been drilled by a previous owner

 

[ssn696]

In an extreme case, could you unbolt the glass hinges from inside the car, then slim-jim the latches on either side of the gate. With help, then you could let the latched glass and gate down, prop it carefully and remove the inner panel.