Well,
My son got rearended in the 1990 Bronco. He was stopped in the school parking lot. The other guy was going roughly 5 mph.
I got one est. from a reputable indpendent shop. Using OEM parts, the total was $1949. This included new TG, alum. panel,red strip and ford emblem,straightening out the bottom of the tire carrier (the arm with the rubber bumper), and painting.
Questions:
Are non OEM TG's any good?
Where can I get the best prices for all the parts on the TG including the TG?
Has anyone ever swapped over all the parts from TG to another?
If anyone has any answers or any related advice on this problem, let me thank you in advance.

Anthony, Sr

 

I have used the aftermarket gate from Jeff's Bronco Graveyard on two different trucks in the past three years and had no problems with fit, alignment, workmanship etc. Considering the OEM gate runs near the $900.00 mark the aftermarket one at $250.00 is a much more cost effective option. Yes, I have swapped the "guts" from one to another, and its all fairly straight forward as long as you take care to understand how each part works. These diagrams may be helpful. they are for slightly older model Broncos but the parts didn't change much if at all.





The only other component that you will need to deal with is the torsion bar inside the gate that acts as a lift-assist mechanism. It attaches inside the bottom of the gate and the end fits through an eye in the passenger side of the jamb. This part is the most tedious to get re-installed.

You might consider protecting the inside of the new gate with brush-in or spray-in bedliner material to keep the elements from causing the gate to rust from the inside out. And ALL Bronco tailgates will eventually do this... even the OEM versions.

Oh, BTW, you will have to measure the old gate and drill the holes for the aluminum trim piece and the latch for the tire carrier. There are three bolts for the latch and ten studs in the trim piece. Best of luck.

 

Or you could also eliminate the Aluminum piece and go with a plain gate. Save some more money and I think the plain gates look just as good or better. Just put a Ford oval in the lower left corner.
BFW

 

Dont bother putting the stupid torsion bar back into the new tailgate. Take it out, and huck it into the bush. Those things eventually wear to the point where someday you will be lowering the tailgate and hear your rear window be blown into a million pieces. That only happened to me once, and it took me 2 hours to clean the mess up.
Do yourself a favour.

-Matt

 

I would take the settlement, and then get good used parts. I mean, every part on there is used as it is, right? My Bronco was rear ended, and it was such a joke because the shop only used new parts, and it took forever to get them - some weren't even available. Long story about that....I would rather have socked the money away for a complete repaint than have a brand new Ford bumper hanging below a slightly rusty tailgate.

 

Whatever you do DON'T take matthewC's advice. That tailigate will be stupidly heavy to close and when you open it, it will drop hard and put undue stress on the stay cables. Without that torsion bar inside, there is nothing to keep it from slamming open and the shock is enough to break the glass. Take it from someone who had it happen. It may be a PITA to put back properly but it beats hell out of replacing a $600.00+ piece of glass every time it slips out of your hands or some unsuspecting individual tries to open the gate before you can warn them about it. They don't wear out, the mounting brackets on the inside RUST without some sort of protection from the elements which is why I made the suggestion about the bedliner coating in my previous post. When the bracket rusts the metal weakens and can no longer hold the bar in place which is what causes it to spring free and snap the glass. If you buy a new one from a dealer, Ford addressed this possibility in later production by making the end of the bar that remains inside the gate longe enough that if the bracket fails, the end of the bar will not be able to spin far enough to hit the glass.

 

I agree with GreyStreak. I have been in the same boat as well. When I got the replacement glass, I added on a steel sleeve to the end of the torsion bar to do what Ford went and did...keep it from spinning around and slamming the glass. It is a heavy tailgate and will drop hard with the assist from the torsion bar.

 

[QUOTE=greystreak92]Whatever you do DON'T take matthewC's advice.

Maybe im crazy, but ive always taken the route that leads to less headaches in the future. I didnt want to take the time to hunt down and install a new torsion bar. yes, the tailgate is heavy, but im not dumb enough to just drop it. I know the bar isnt in there anymore, so I let it down slowly. The cables are plenty strong to hold the weight, and I havent had ANY problems to date. He can take my advice/not take it, its up to him. Just giving him my .02 cents on his situation, just letting him know what I did and that it has worked.

-Matt

 

When I replaced the tailgate on my '88 I chose to toss the torsion bar. No problems. Also tossed all the aluminum trim pieces. Wish I had kept them now, since people on this list always seem to be looking for 'em.
BFW