Tail Gate Rubber Boot

[deano41]

Hi, Has anyone replaced the rubber boots on the tail gate before?

 

The off side one has broken and the wires are exposed.

 

is this an easy job or a nightmare?!!

 

Any help at all would be good!

 

Thanks

 

Deano

[morticiaskeeper]

Not the nicest of jobs, but better to get it out of the way while the weather is good :P

 

You could just tape the broken wires, but they will go again and if the boot is damaged, water will get inside the tailgate.

 

You will need:

 

40w or bigger soldering iron & solder.

Heat shrink sleeving.

New boot.

1m of multicore wire, enough cores to replace ALL the wires in the boot. Extra flexible wire is called SY, get it from an electrical wholesaler.

Insulating tape.

Lots of patience.

 

Take the trim off the inside of the tailgate.

Take the trim off the inside of the pillar, removing the seatbelt helps.

Carefully note each colour wire.

Cut the whole loom inside the pillar and the tailgate, making sure it's in a place where the joints will sit comfortably when the trim is replaced.

Put an inch of heatshrink over each wire. do it now before you forget it.

Thread the new boot and SY cable through the holes. I also put a bit of string in at the same time, in case I might want to pull something through at a later date.

 

Have a cuppa.

 

Solder each joint before covering with heatshrink. Doing the joints in bunches of four, with each bunch at a staggered alignment to the others will give you more room to play with. Some SY comes with all the cores the same colour, but numbered. Make sure you write everything down.

 

Have a cuppa.

 

Check everything.

 

Connect the battery.

 

Check everything.

 

Replace all the trims.

 

Check everything.

 

Have a beer :P

Edited May 28, 2007 by morticiaskeeper