How to open a tailgate on a Bronco that the electrical system is not working

I started a thread on here asking about how to get a Bronco tailgate window down that wouldn't come down by using the switches on the dash or in the tail gate.

I started trouble shooting by hooking up a wire trace tool to the powered side of fuse #12 and traced the wires all of the way back to the key switch in the tailgate and found no breaks or shorts in the wires.  I started to pull the left tail light out to check for power and found that I couldn't, as there are two screws that you can't get to with the tailgate closed.

I removed the inner panel screws and removed the panel. Take all of the tools you think you might need on the first trip so you don't have to keep climbing over the back seat to fetch more. I took a power probe III, a #2 phillips screw driver, a jump box to power the power probe with, and a 1/4 drive socket set, in case I had to remove the window regulator.  I took the power probe III because it has a separate ground and will make a complete circuit. These tailgate motors have only two wires going to them and when you turn the switch to up or down, it powers one and makes the other wire the ground.

You will find a two wire plug to the passenger side of the center support in the gate, un-plug it. This is where the power probe comes into play, assuming that the motor is good. 
If you hook the ground to the red wire in the plug and power the yellow wire, the window will come down most of the way...enough to open the gate.  You will find that the gate latch still won't work.  Behind the center support in the gate is a rod that when pushed down by the window in it's full down position, activates the tail gate release handle.  Pull down on that rod and it will let you open the tailgate.

My curiosity got the better of me.  I closed the drivers side latch fully and put the key in the gate switch and the window went down. The limit switch was good and not the cause of my problem.

What I did find was that the plastic bushing was missing from the striker.  That missing bushing wouldn't let the latch close all of the way, which caused the limit switch to not complete the circuit.

New striker, pencil showing new striker with plastic bushing.

Because of weather coming in, I had to put a jumper wire in place of the limit switch to be able to close the gate and roll up the window until the new strikers came in.  To do this, you have to roll up the window all of the way. This will allow you to remove the drivers side window track by taking these two bolts out.

Removing the window track gives you access to the back of the latch and the limit switch.  I unplugged the limit switch and put in the jumper wire, so I could close every thing up for the incoming weather.

 

Steve - Well done!

So you think it is just the plastic bushing?  What's the plan?

The new strikers arrived from LMC on Saturday, but because it rained all day Sat and Sun here, I did not get them put in. I also ordered a new limit switch because I am already that far in there.

For now it works with the jumper wire and all I really needed was the storage space for the front rotors, hubs and bearings as I am doing the front brakes.

As I don't have a shop, I am at the mercy of the weather.

As I said before, this may be good enough to stick with the tailgate page in the documentation section.

It is plenty good enough for a how-to on that page.  And I'll leave a place for the last installment - buttoning it back up with the new strikers in place.

May take a bit, and I may need the originals of the pics as copies of pics snagged from the internet sometimes don't show well.  But I'll work on it in the next few days and report back.

Thanks!

Steve, the system on the Bronco is not much different from the one my 1970.5 Falcon wagon had, electrical interlock on one of the latches and a mechanical one on the latch release system. I had to do the crawl to the back on it one time, at least on a wagon the rear (or center) seat folds so it wasn't quite as bad. That was a dual action gate and the safety switch was on the upper right latch.

Strikers, Dorman has them in their Help line of parts.