'85 Bronco tailgate window issues with unique workaround
 

I recently joined the forum, and this is my first post. Anytime I've had an issue with my Bronco, Google typically lead me to this site; so I figured why not join because the best advice I've received has come from here.

The rundown:
The tailgate window stopped responding to the key and the switch in the cab. I took off the access panel, pulled the motor, and discovered the motor was bad. Bought a new one and installed it; issue still remained. Saw advice on here about the safety relay in the gate, so I bypassed that by crossing the wires; issue still remains. I poked under the dash checking out the switch, but both grounds are secured. Frustrated at the situation, I've come up with a better idea, or so I think.

I want to bypass all the nonsense going on by running two wires from the lift motor all the way to the battery with a switch in the cab that activates the window up/down. How could I go about doing this?

Does the switch in the tailgate work the motor?

Did you check the fuses?

Didn't Ford spend alot of money engineering the tailgate window already?

Why reinvent the spoon?

The switch is supposed to work the motor, but as of right now, there's just the sound of the click, no motor activity.

I replaced all the fuses about two months ago when the blinkers were having issues. I rechecked the fuses, and just for the sake of it, I replaced the fuse.

I suppose Ford did spend a lot of money engineering the tailgate window, but their completed design will ultimately cause me to spend a lot of money getting someone else to fix it.

Maybe I don't like spoons, maybe I want to eat with sporks instead.

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Besides, I feel that this simplistic design would work in my advantage, I'll lose the function of rear switch, but won't spend 6 hours trying to figure out what's going on just to find out that the ground in the dash came loose (which isn't the case here unfortunately).

Is the window operating at all?

Is it stuck up or down? I'm thinking that the regulator needs to be lubed.

The window was stuck up until I spent a few hours at all weird angles pulling the motor out and pushing down the window. When I connect the motor to the battery, everything works fine. As it is right now, the access panel is off, tailgate is up and I ran wires from the motor through the cab to the battery just so I could close the window (tailgate latches don't engage).

Do you really need wires? Don't you just need power to the motor? and then ground is the frame? Put a switch in the wire and bob's your uncle. Next please.

I'm talking about loose wires, not the engineering's design. There's something going on with their design that's shorting out and I can't find it.

So far I have figured out, Hot to Hot, window goes up, Hot to Ground, window goes down. I don't know what kind of switch I would need or how to wire it in order to ghetto-rig this.

I had the same problem and found that it was the tailgate latch switch that was bad, I jumped it to itself bypassing the latched requirement and it works fine. :)

How did you/could I do that? I already bypassed the relay by crossing the wires, and I know the regulators are fine since the window moves up and down if I connect the motor directly to the battery. I'm looking for the easiest way to get this fixed; so far wiring a direct switch in the dash is the best option in my opinion so far.

i just messed with a buddy's 88 for over a solid day. all to find out it was corrosion in the harness connector between the tailgate lock switch and the motor. check that. we had to end up cutting it and hard wired it together...so no more plug connector. now it works great. and as far as using the chassis as ground. a DC motor reverses polarity to go up or go down. so you need two wires run to it. you would need a power window switch that will cross over ground and hot depending if you want up or down. just about any window switch will work for what you want.

Do you have a diagram available I could look at because I don't really want to electrocute myself. I haven't really had experience wiring things that required a ground, most of my experience is just replacing wires or what not.

no i dont have one. its pretty simple. most switches will have 4 posts on the back. all they do is reverse power and ground. i'd really check that harness connector in the tailgate before you dive too far into this. like i said i spent a while checking electrical on my buddys 88 and i about pulled my hair out when i found out it was simple corrosion.

I am having kind of the same problem with my 95. i can get it to roll down but then I have a hard time rolling it back up. Any suggestions

Slow operation in one direction is typically indicative of misalignment or a gummed up regulator. Cleaning the regulator by degreasing and applying a light coat of lithium grease to those glide and pivot points will help immensely. A serious word of caution though... NEVER apply lubricants to the window glass or the side tracks.

Ok, guys, all the talk of putting in new switches or relocating and running new wiring begs the question that g_k50 already posed... Ford already engineered this part of the electrical system.

Keep in mind that the tailgate glass circuits are NOT fused. Circuits 12 and 14 use automatically resetting circuit breakers. If they trip and don't reset after a while, either the short circuit/overload condition continues to exist or the breaker needs replacing.

hey i agree that ford did a great job with the engineering part of it. concidering the first thing my professor taught us about an engineer. "An engineers job is to take a simple task...and make it impossible" the set up is really impressive in its simplicity. once i figured out it was corrosion on the plug in connector the "fix" went great. although i will say the wires from the body over to the tailgate leave something to be desired. i assume its common for the wires and loom to break at this point.