tailgate issue

The tailgate mechanism broke a while back and would only allow the door to swing open not drop down. Today I had a chance to take the interior panel off and found the clip that holds the arm in place broken/missing. The short rod from the handle to the slotted hole... Is that clip available or what is a decent alternative?

I also need to replace the push pins that hold the panel to the tailgate.



Thanks,

Parts diagram for tailgate is very complicated/confusing.  I THINK the part # you need is 7762203.  Apparently that part has been used for many GM applications over the years.  You can currently see what the part looks like on this eBay item:

7762203

I missed this. The part is the same as the one on the other bellcrank under the access panel. They are not available. A friend of mine put a model airplane wheel collar on the end of the wire. The only issue you may have is that the wire may "catch" the bellcrank in certain positions. If you leave the plastic part on the wire that would prevent the wire from catching on the bellcrank. I have a few of the original clips that I harvested from donor cars in the junk yards. I would put blue locktite on the collar screw so that it does not fall off.

I was thinking of using a couple washers and a speednut to hold the rod in place.

I tried that, and there were no speednuts that fit the rod diameter.

if it's a steel rod could threads be cut into it and then use a nylock type nut, as I know they make those in sizes smaller then that from working on my three hobby RC trucks.

Fred Kiehl wrote:

I tried that, and there were no speednuts that fit the rod diameter.

Have you tried searching for "cap nuts" or "push nuts".  I think they come in many rod sizes.  McMaster probably has them.

My local hardware supplier had different sizes and none fit.

It is much easier and really cheap to get a model airplane landing gear collar and get it over with. Almost any hobby shop that sells model airplanes has them on hand.

I also thought about trying to thread the rod and use a nylock nut...

I'll look into the model plane landing gear.

Fred if this is what you are talking about it will work perfectly! I might have something in my r/c parts collection!

wheel collars

Those are the correct type of part. I do not know the diameter of the wire.