Tailgate Window Troubleshooting / Temporary Fix

Contributed By: David Nevin

I just did this myself. Mine was stuck in the up position after working normally ever since I bought it. And since it was cold outside, I didn't want to hastle taking the whole thing apart. So for the short course (sorry if this grows a little long everyone):

1. First check to make sure you're getting power to the switch on the dash. Turn the ignition on, and run a test lamp (or multimeter) from the center wire to a ground. If it lights, you have power to the switch. Then check the top wire (with the switch toggled to the up position), then the bottom. If everything works, the problem's at the tailgate.

2. Next, take off the access panel, and find the tan and dark brown wires that run into the bottom of the tailgate. You'll need a helper to toggle the switch back and forth for you as you probe the wires to see if you have voltage back there. Try to figure out which wire operates which direction.

3. If so, from here it's simple. Strip a little insulation of each of the wires and connect a length of 12 guage wire. Solder it if you can, but at the least tape it well. Connect these two wires to the wires running out of the motor (it's on the right hand side, and has one brown and one yellow wire coming out of the top). Carefully strip a little insulation off of these and connect the wiring. Then try it to see if it works. If so, your rear tailgate (outside) switch is shot, but you've got a fix until warmer weather.

Hope that helps--it worked for me.

Dave
79 Cherokee Widetrack