I tried to save a repeat question for popping up(Iknow this has probably been asked before) by searchnig for some posts on Explorer liftgate swaps but there are over 500 posts matching my search. I still sifted through quite a few but was unlucky.

My issue is simple: I have a 97 Explorer sport. And I'd like to swap a 99/00 liftgate on my truck. It looks much better than the two-tone one thats currently on my baby. Now, I've found a few places online that sell the whole liftgate with glass, wiper, molding, etc for around $550 in my hometown. So my question to anyone with exp/knowledge on this is - Has this been successfully done? Without any kind fabrication or something. From the looks of it, it appears it can be done by just un-hooking the wiring & wiper stuff, the pistons then un-bolting and removing it. And then just attaching the same parts of the new liftgate. Any info on this? I'd appreciate it greatly...thank you.

 

I suggest calling a couple of junk yard and ask them about the inter-changeability between the 2 years and any differences between the Sport and XLT models.