Quote:
Originally Posted by WrathOfKain
Finally got round to doing this today and what looks a pretty simple solution has ended up a debacle.
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+1
Firstly, my gratitude to the OP for the detailed write-up, which made disassembly that much faster as I went in knowing what to expect.
However, as others have noted "just" drifting the old pin out can actually be a royal PITA. I had ended up using a burr in a Dremel to remove as much flaking rust 'overgrowth' from the length of the pin as was accessible in situ, before resorting to whacking it as hard as possible with a 3mm pin punch from one end. I thoroughly expected something to break, there being so much force involved against aged plastic but ultimately got lucky. Once a good couple of centimeters of pin had been exposed at one end, I was able to pull and twist it out using a pair of small water pump pliers.
I've replaced it with a new length of stainless rod but overall it's not the return to factory condition as I was hoping for. The return spring is also mild steel and seems to be the actual cause of those types of failure (catch can be moved but doesn't return under its own steam). One end of the spring rusts away and no longer catches in its detent, hence no return action.
With a new rod, there is enough natural tension in the cable to give enough return to the handle to make it useable but it's not perfect.
There are small plastic retaining clips built into the handle plate molding (one each side of the two number plate lights) which also become fragile and break (ask me how I know).
And as a final insult, I had to remove my number plate, as the supplying dealer had attached it high up enough, and with enough packing out in the form of double-sided sticking pads, to have it obstruct the removal of the tailgate plate.