Lift gate Latch Removal

[Casey4wd]

How do they come out? The access holes are not big enough for them and they do not fit inside the channel to come out the center hole. It does not seem like this should be hard, but I am lost...

 

[Big Fish]

How do they come out? The access holes are not big enough for them and they do not fit inside the channel to come out the center hole. It does not seem like this should be hard, but I am lost...

Have the same problem was trying to do the very thing you doing. Hope we both get answers on this

 

[Slowleak]

I don't remember ever removing mine so I dug out my shop manual to see what I could find.

 

[Bart]

I don't remember ever removing mine so I dug out my shop manual to see what I could find.

Now that is about as useful as T*&^ on a boar hog! Remove the two screws and remove from assembly". Gee, Thanks I too am looking at replacing the latches (one on each side of the liftgate). They don't come out through the side opening and they don't go down through the tunnel to the center. I spoke with someone at one of the Bronco parts places and he said he "thought" they had to be disassembled in place and taken out one piece at a time. ??????
Has anyone "really" removed them and step by step would be great. "Take out two screws and remove from liftgate" doesn't cut it.
I have two or three shop manuals (one is OEM for a 77 F series). I'll look at it and "IF" it covers this subject I'll post it here. Standby.
I have a 68 EB and a 77 ALL F series shop manuals and both of them are VAGE about it. Like "slowleak" said from his manual "Just take it out"!! I'm of the opinion that the latches were put in before it was welded together. I just spent a couple hours trying this and that and nothing works.

 

[Slowleak]

Read this: https://classicbroncos.com/forums/threads/liftgate-latch-removal-impossible-without-cutting.270669/
And watch this:

 

[Bart]

Thanks SL! I saw that link on another site and just watched the nice and clean demo. I went back out and put penetrating oil on the four pins and said good night til tomorrow. I do appreciate the come back.

 

[Steve83]

I think I just pushed the plunger in against the spring as I lifted the assembly out of the access hole, but it has been >20 years since I did it.

 

[Bart]

I think I just pushed the plunger in against the spring as I lifted the assembly out of the access hole, but it has been >20 years since I did it.

Yes, I even tried that. Problem is that it's too wide to come out of that hole intact. This was NOT one of Ford's better ideas. I'm going to replace the latches so how I get them out is not important. You tube has a good video on how to get them out. NICE new shiny latches, not old rusty ones. If I can't get the rusty drift pins out, then I'll start cutting latch pieces and parts until there's nothing left. I've been soaking the pins for a few days in hopes of pulling them out successfully. I hope to be long dead before they have to be replaced again. I might even paint them to slow down the rust process.

 

[HuskyNut]

Yes, I even tried that. Problem is that it's too wide to come out of that hole intact. This was NOT one of Ford's better ideas. I'm going to replace the latches so how I get them out is not important. You tube has a good video on how to get them out. NICE new shiny latches, not old rusty ones. If I can't get the rusty drift pins out, then I'll start cutting latch pieces and parts until there's nothing left. I've been soaking the pins for a few days in hopes of pulling them out successfully. I hope to be long dead before they have to be replaced again. I might even paint them to slow down the rust process.

I just did this last week. PITA. I soaked the pins, but nothing moved. Not enough to grip onto with needle nose vice grips. I ended up drilling out the pins. I used a drill bit just a hair smaller than the pin hole diameter - it appeared to me the latch material was hardened steel, and did not cut well with the drill bit. Note - my "originals" were split pins, so if your drill bit just spins the pin, carefully try to pull out the bit, and the pin should come with it all wrapped around the bit, kind of like an easy-out tap extractor.
Like I said, PITA.

 

[Bart]

Thanks for the easy out idea.

 

[Poolscott69]

I'm having the same issue with the latches. I tried to watch the video but it says it's private. Any help would be appreciated!

 

[Bart]

I'm in favor of the drilling out the pin idea. I know of a business that sells specialty drill bits. A bit expensive but worth the price if they work. I have several of them and they drill like you wouldn't believe. The have a small(er) pre-bit followed by a "uni-bit style section then the correct diameter bit. I have 4 or 5 of them and they are great. Expensive in that they are around $6+ depending on the size.
The Broncos are pretty much sitting around it has not been a great urgency. One thing I'll say is that heat is a great way to break things loose. I think a small pair of vise grips and a small propane torch "might" be the way to remove the pins. The trick would be to heat the area "around" the pin and not the pin as much. I've discovered another product that might work but is messy. It proports to freeze (cool) a part (which shrinks it a few thousands) while lubing the opening that forms between the two. Messy in that directions say to spray the work for 30 seconds to cool all the while flooding it with the lub. Messy but it has worked on other projects. Also has not worked on other projects.
I'm up to my eyeballs in a Jeep Cherokee so like I said the Broncos have been on the back burner. Now before you flame me, the Cherokee is a daily driver that goes out when the weather is back leaving the Broncos, F350 and Momma's Flex tucked away in the garages. At 240K miles it's still running so it not a bad rig.

 

[Bart]

Okay, I got mine out but took them out in pieces. I used my 4" grinder with a used cut off wheel that was down to 3.5". First I cut all the spring loops that were visible. I cut at an angle going in through the square opening and cutting corner to opposite corner (caddy corner?). First I bent the springs halves enough to get them around the inner latch (movable part) , then I decided it would be quicker to rotate the cut spring part so that I could make a second cut on each spring piece. This allowed me to remove the spring pieces from around the inner bar. On the first side I used the cut off wheel to grind the drift pins flush with the movable latch part. With the 1/8" Drift pin punch, I was able to drive the drift pin back with a Drift Pin Punch (DPP) as far as they'd go and even bent them against the back part of the "U" frame that makes up the unit. The farthest on from the side that holds the pull rod bent far enough to get the rod disconnected and removed. The pin closest to the side wall was more fun to get out and thereby removing the latch post. On the second side I cut the time down from a few hours to learn how to about 15 minutes by using the cut off wheel to first cut the springs as before then I cut both of the two portions that attached to the pull rod. This means that I cut the pull rod in half. With the latch post (moving section) cut in half I was able to remove the moving part (moving section) from the "U" frame. Unscrewing the two side bolts, I was able to turn the "U" frame enough to take the larger frame section (closest to the lift gate frame) out first followed by the back section.
I decided NOT to use the drift pin but decided to drill and tap the holes for the drift pins instead. I used a #30 drill bit and an 8-32 tap. I also purchased Allen headed 8-32 machine screws to install after the unit was in place. Future removal is assured.
To install the new unit that comes with the two sections and the drift pin separate, I installed the pull rod in and I put the larger side in first and rotated it into position before the rear part dropped right in.
Since I had already drilled and taped the rods leading to the center handle I had to modify the U frame so that the allen headed machine screw would go through the frame. It didn't take much work with a square file to open the frame enough for the head of the allen screw to go through the frame like the drift pin was designed to do. After that I put the spring and two ends back in the U frame. Assembled with the two allen screws worked pretty good. If a guy didn't want to spend a lot of time modifying the U frame, he could drill and tap for one allen head machine screw in the center of the moving latch and put a new drift pin in the one that works with the roc. I did it with both ways so that future repairs could be completed with a 9/64" Allen wrench. I took pictures if any one wants to see what I did.