Euro 90 Swingout tailgate / POE liftgate install

[dave_lucas]

Although my stock Station wagon door was in good condition I wanted to install a NAS style swingout tire carrier and POE style liftgate as it would be more flexible and allow me to switch between my hardtop and soft top with less effort.

The liftgate was from a series IIA land rover and was purchased from Australia. When it arrived it came with everything need to install including the upper hinge mounts (very hard to find). It was in great condition with no rust.

Tailgate was purchased from Rovers North as a new take off, it was a standard ROW Defender drop down tailgate.

I have in my possession a NAS swingout tailgate but decided not to use it as it has many extra holes that I will not require such as the 3rd brake light and the hinge locations are different when compared to the SW door hinge locations. Additionally I did not want to drill additional holes in the body of the 90.

The first step was to remove the stock Station wagon door. I choose remove the hinge from the door and leave them attached to the body of the 90 as I would need them in place to mark and drill the hinge mounts on the ROW tailgate as it does not come with the holes necessary to mount it as a swingout.

I then mounted my tailgate in the fold down fashion with the parts supplied with the tailgate. This was done to ensure that I had the tailgate positioned properly as I drilled the holes for the hinges.

I started with the upper hinge as the RH fold down bracket is in the way of the lower hinge. The upper most hole is almost in the correct position but required some modification, I drilled the holes, mounted the upper hinge and them removed the right hand fold down bracket and drilled the lower hinge holes.

One the holes were drilled and the hinges bolted down I removed the left hand drop down bracket and tested the fit / function of the tailgate.

Since I will be adding a NAS ST tire carrier the next step was to transfer the desired holes from the NAS tailgate to my ROW tailgate. This was accomplished by removing the rivets that hold the 2 parts of the tailgate together and moving the back steel plate from my ROW over to the NAS tailgate. I then drilled the holes for the tire carrier and the latch. The steel rear cover was then reinstalled onto the ROW tailgate and the holes were once again transferred.

Next is mounting the POE liftgate

[130Tdi]

Dave what did your drive train noise turn out to be ?

[dave_lucas]

I think it was just me being a nervous Nelly.

When I drained the fluid it was clean and clear with only a little fuzz on the magnet. I replaced the fluid and drove it around and checked it again and everything looked fine.

I heard another 110 yesterday and it was the same so I think it was just my nervousness of driving an unknown 25 year old vehicle across the US :)

[130Tdi]

Cool ! I thought that trans felt and shifted well. Put some Redline MTL in it and it'll be even better.How long before you get sick of that natural and put the Tdi in ?

[dave_lucas]

The NA is not too bad soo far, I figure that I will use it for a while that way the 200 will feel like a real boost in power :)

I thought redline MTL was a no no in the LT77?

[Red90]

MTL is perfect in an LT77.

[Gkase]

Dave,
don't forget to post pix of what you do (or did) on the liftgate...particularly the strut mounting and the liftgate/swing gate sealing arrangement that you're going to use...I still haven't got that dialed in on mine.
George

[evilfij]

JimC did his with parts from Mcmaster Carr. He promised me part numbers. JimC? .....

[dave_lucas]

I will post everything as I go, sadly it will be a slow build as there is only 1 day per week that I am able to work on my 90 :(

FYI, I have 2 POE liftgates one bone stock and one that is like the NAS so I am still trying to decide what one I want to use.

So in two full days of working on the 90 I have done the following

Removed all of the interior & cleaned it all really good, reinstalled new exmoor XS blackrack heated seats with lumbar, installed new exmoor lockbox, removed rear SW door, installed / test fitted rear swingout, installed / test fitted POE liftgate, removed SW roof, removed all rear lights, removed galvy cappings, test fitted exmoor mohair hood, started to prep new 2008 sw doors, preped rear swingout tailgate, buffed / waxed body, preped / painted a set of wolf wheels alpine white and dropped off aprox 300 lbs of parts to get galv dipped :eek:

Oh and managed to put a large dent in my bank account with 2 orders to RDS and 1 from Safari Rover :lol

Follow-up Post:

Here is where I am with the POE liftgate install so far.

I started by test fitting the upper liftgate hinges, the hinge brackets were a tight fit and required light tapping with a hammer to encourage them into place.

The liftgate was then mounted to the hinges and I closed the liftgate and adjusted the hinge brackets so the hinges were centered in the brackets and the liftgate was centered in the door opening.

I then drilled the holes for the rivets and installed the rivets to hold the hinge brackets in place.

Next steps on the POE liftgate is to install lift shocks, replacement locking handle, paint and figure out how to properly seal everything.

[JimC]

18" Gas Struts with M6 threaded ends - 30 pound strength (x2): 9416K192
Nylon ball joints for above (x4): 9416k86
Stainless Steel Ball Joint Brackets (x2):9512K12
Stainless Steel Ball Joint Brackets (1 each):
9512K16
9512K17

Let me know if you needs photos of the set-up, they're on the site here somewhere.

[evilfij]

Sweet. I was digging looking for my tailgate bar and I found a piece of door repair channel that is exactly the right size to repair the dent in the frame.

Dave, did you have to trim the brackets?

Ron

PS $51.74 from mcmaster for the lot.

1 Each
9416K192
Gas Spring with Threaded Ends 30 Force, 18.62" Extended Length, 8.27" Stroke (Same as 9416K19)
Please enter a quantity. $14.46 Each $28.92 in the morning
2 Each
9416K86
10 mm Nylon Ball Socket for M6 Thread Gas Spring with Threaded Ends
Please enter a quantity. $1.28 Each $5.12 in the morning
3 Each
9512K12
Ball Mounting Hardware 304 SS 90 Deg Angle Long Neck Ball Bracket
Please enter a quantity. $4.31 Each $8.62 in the morning
4 Each
9512K16
Ball Mounting Hardware 304 Stainless Steel Left Hand Flat Ball Bracket
Please enter a quantity. $4.54 Each $4.54 in the morning
5 Each
9512K17
Ball Mounting Hardware 304 Stainless Steel Right Hand Flat Ball Bracket
Please enter a quantity. $4.54 Each $4.54 in the morning
Merchandise Total $51.74

[dave_lucas]

Dave, did you have to trim the brackets?


No, they were just really tight to get in but with a light tap with a rubber hammer they went into place and seem to fit properly.

FWIW looking at the NAS POE upper hinge bracket they would be super simple to make and if I did not have the ones from the series I would have just made a set of the NAS POE style.

[Gkase]

I used one strut on my liftgate conversion instead of two...also, the NAS liftgate has no locking handle, it is locked in place by the swing gate and its lock, which is what I did imitating the POE. I still don't have a satisfactory liftgate/swing gate sealing configuration and am interested in what folks have done with theirs.
George

[evilfij]

I will post a pic of the factory POE seal.

[seaswood]

Wondering how different the liftgate hinge attachment brackets are?
As I had to buy two of same side as pairs appeared unavailable.



I will post everything as I go, sadly it will be a slow build as there is only 1 day per week that I am able to work on my 90 :(

FYI, I have 2 POE liftgates one bone stock and one that is like the NAS so I am still trying to decide what one I want to use.

So in two full days of working on the 90 I have done the following

Removed all of the interior & cleaned it all really good, reinstalled new exmoor XS blackrack heated seats with lumbar, installed new exmoor lockbox, removed rear SW door, installed / test fitted rear swingout, installed / test fitted POE liftgate, removed SW roof, removed all rear lights, removed galvy cappings, test fitted exmoor mohair hood, started to prep new 2008 sw doors, preped rear swingout tailgate, buffed / waxed body, preped / painted a set of wolf wheels alpine white and dropped off aprox 300 lbs of parts to get galv dipped :eek:

Oh and managed to put a large dent in my bank account with 2 orders to RDS and 1 from Safari Rover :lol

Follow-up Post:

Here is where I am with the POE liftgate install so far.

I started by test fitting the upper liftgate hinges, the hinge brackets were a tight fit and required light tapping with a hammer to encourage them into place.

The liftgate was then mounted to the hinges and I closed the liftgate and adjusted the hinge brackets so the hinges were centered in the brackets and the liftgate was centered in the door opening.

I then drilled the holes for the rivets and installed the rivets to hold the hinge brackets in place.

Next steps on the POE liftgate is to install lift shocks, replacement locking handle, paint and figure out how to properly seal everything.

[cgalpin]

I should have bought two and then just modified one. I'm still looking for the NLA side myself...

[dave_lucas]

Wondering how different the liftgate hinge attachment brackets are?
As I had to buy two of same side as pairs appeared unavailable.

The bottom is the only part that is diffrent as far as I can tell. If you were to cut off the bottom it would fit but you would need to drill some new holes in the brackets for the bottom to mount.

I will take a picture and post it so you can see what I am talking about

[dave_lucas]

Red lines show the stock mounting holes

yellow line shows where you would need to cut to make the bracket mount on both sides.

[seaswood]

Dave thanx for the pix when the time comes I think rn had some latch parts for the hatch fortunately I got one with all the pieces except those in photo above. Good luck with your hinge I went with the drop down series type it was all there. Craig

[evilfij]

I would make some like on a POE. They are stupid simple. All it is is a flat piece of steel with two tabs for the pin. You can kinda of see it in one of these pics.

http://www.eastcoastrover.com/167.html

[dave_lucas]

Galvanized the back plate, painted the alum part and mounted it.

When installing the latch I just closed it and marked it and then drilled.

I have some other hinges that will be installed soon that are the proper color.

[jabber]

Here's a few more closer pics of the POE type hinge setup as well as where the struts mount!!!

http://www.d-90.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19397

[dmarchand]

That is really nice. It has me wanting to do a drop down tail gate on mine.

[130Tdi]

sweet !