[T3] rear hatch/hinge issue

[Daniel Nohejl]

Well, the job is done and neither of us lost a finger or an eye. We now have one OG Royal Red hinge and one Peru Green (I think) hinge but at least the hatch opens and closes with ease. We’ve got a spray can of Royal Red paint on the way and once it arrives we’ll cover up the visible parts of green as best we can. 

http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/1603417.jpg <http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/1603417.jpg>

http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/1603418.jpg <http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/1603418.jpg>

Getting the hatch off wasn’t a big deal. We removed the vinyl panel, found the wiring for the license plate light, and disconnected the main harness wires from a T2 connector. They pulled out of the hatch with ease as did the wire on that side for the defrost grid once we got it out of its rubber boot. I assume that was the ground for the defrost grid as it seemed to be the same wire that grounds under a screw on the passenger side hinge cover. The driver’s side grid wire also was no big deal. The boots on both sides were cracked as hell, though, and barely survived removal and installation. I have to try and track down some replacements. Were the original ones light grey or did ours fade?

Once the headliner was out of the way, we got the pins and then the hinge out rather quickly. The tool Jim crafted for us made it a cinch.

http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/1603419.jpg <http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/1603419.jpg>

The two longest parts of the job were during re-installation. First was figuring out how to get the torsion rod we removed back into its slot in the body. We spent a good 45 minutes trying every way we could think of while laying on our backs using the VW709 tool. In the end, I stood outside the car and muscled the torsion bar and hinge back into place by hand while Jessica guided me. This took all of 5 minutes. My gloved fingers got caught between the hinge and the body, but I just slipped them out without much effort. Then, it took a long time to thread the license plate and defrost grid wires into their proper places. Finally, we settled on hooking a length of safety wire into the holes near the ends of the long male connectors and threaded the safety wire through the hatch and then used it to pull the wires right back into place. Re-aligning the hatch took a bit of time, but wasn’t too difficult. 

I wouldn’t want to do this job everyday, but it wasn’t as onerous as we feared it would be though that’s really down to Jim’s kindness and ingenuity in making the tool for us.

The problem with our hinge is pretty obvious in this picture. Last week, I thought it was only the lower pin that had wallowed out but look how bad the upper one was….it wore through the brass bushing and then the reinforced metal of the hinge:

http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/1603415.jpg <http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/1603415.jpg>

We’ll be even more extra-careful when raising the hatch from now on!!








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