Rear Glass FIX

Hey everyone,

Scroll down for the fix if you want to skip my intro.


I purchased a white 2005 Tahoe Z71 a few months back.

I've already received some great ideas for Mods and fixes from this site. I have installed Depo Headlights with black bumper lights and 35w 5000k HIDs in the lows and fogs.

I also modded the roof rack with reverse lights and have a Escalade cluster - decided not to fix the old one so I could get a trans temp gauge. I did use the nice write ups to figure out what bulbs I needed to fix my instrument lights. Still need to fix the steering wheel ones.

Soon, with the nice weather, I plan on Plastidipping my wheels black and tinting my taillights.

However, today, I fixed my rear glass that hasn't worked since I bought her. I pulled off the trim and after playing with it, decided to Dremel off the bump on top of the plastic lock actuator.

When you push the button, it is supposed to push down on this plastic to open the latch. The bump caused the plastic to hit the button's metal bracket which would then slip past it, instead of opening the glass. I couldn't find any way to adjust it so my fix was to clearance the plastic to allow it to slip underneath the metal from the button.

Sorry, I didn't get a picture of before because I wasn't 100% sure if this would work.

First thing is to remove the grab handle and then carefully pull off the trim - it is attached like all other interior trim, with the metal clips.


This is when the glass is locked. The plastic actuator rotates away from the button.



This is the clearanced plastic underneath the button mechanism. Now, it slides underneath the button when it unlocks instead of hitting it. Dremel skills aren't perfect.



And this is my rear view. I just bought the white third brake light since my original one didn't work and I didn't think melting plastic to separate and fix it would be successful in the end.



Hopefully this helps someone else.

My Denali does this too. I fixed it, but it slipped off again. Glad theres a more permanent fix!

not to take this off track, but are those lights mounted on your roof rack?

They're mounted in the Z71 roof rack. They were on the concept tahoe but the DOT didn't let them get to production. I got the idea from the Z71 tahoe site. I used the northern tool lights.

http://z71tahoe-suburban.com/iboard/index.php?showtopic=12210&st=140

That's the thread. The worst part is cutting out the plastic. They are relayed to come on in reverse. I also have a switch to turn them on at will once I mount it.

So when your's didn't work, were you able to push in the button at all? On my Tahoe, my button seems to be stuck and takes a lot of pressure to push it and open the glass... so much so that I never use it.

My button moved but would never open the window because it was slipping past the actuator.

It looked like the car was broken into or otherwise damaged before I purchased it as there is a poor repair of sticky goo above my hatch opener.