Thread: Manual tailgate release D3

the middle actuator in the lower tailgate un/locks the top tailgate, hence my dilemma. looking to move the said actuator to a more suitable location. cheers

Originally Posted by shamirj

the middle actuator in the lower tailgate un/locks the top tailgate, hence my dilemma. looking to move the said actuator to a more suitable location. cheers

Shamirj, thanks for re-raising this post. Must admit I had not picked up on this issue until now. Manual release and the Allen key mod now on my list of things to do.

Me thinks you are getting no response as you may have an issue that no one has experienced before. I hope you solve and can post what you had to do when you do solve.

The actuator died on my D4, and so i had to do the dreaded trim removal with the doors closed.

I added a mountain bike gear cable to the lock mechanism itself and added a homemade L bracket to take the strain, then ran the cable out through to the rear seats, ideally i'd use a longer and thicker cable next time though so i don't have to put the 2nd row seats down to reach it

Excellent. I will be visiting you with a case of beer and some mountain bike cable very soon.

Scott

As long as the beers frosty

I reckon tandem brake cable could do, 3.5m long

Originally Posted by LRD414

Excellent. I will be visiting you with a case of beer and some mountain bike cable very soon.

Scott

Try the heat weld type fishing trace. Easy to attach, and cut to length. I have drilled a neat hole in the lower lh corner of the metal on the tailgate. The trace is threaded through and another loop twisted into the end. I have then used body colour ( white in my case ) gaffer tape to affix the trace loop to the lh metal edge on the lwr tailgate. Sure you can see the loop when the tailgate is open, but it is not obvious. If the tailgate has to be opened, the bottom end of the loop is just accessible. Grab and pull !!!

For long trips I have rear drawers and a cargo barrier and the potential for an inoperable tailgate has been bothering me. So last week I had James (sctsprin) assist me to proactively install a manual release cable directly to the lock, just like his (refer his post above). My vehicle is only 15 months old but it seemed like an excellent opportunity to get it done early with assistance from someone who'd been forced into being an expert

The task is not too hard if you have your tailgate open but I decided to put together a guide document with a few extra details that may help others.
It is a pdf file attached to this post.

Attaching the manual release directly to the lock seems like the best option because you will still have manual operation regardless of what element fails (cable or electric actuator).

Using a bike cable rather than just a wire trace allows the cable to be run through bends and grommets, be tucked away and still be easy to actuate.
Here it is under the 3rd row seats but I might even move this to under the carpet. The pull handle tucks under the 2nd row floor mat.


In this photo you can see the factory cable that pulls towards bottom left of photo.
The manual cable is added to pull opposite direction, which is the same actuation because it is the other side of the pivot.


In this photo you can see how the bike cable is attached.


Complete actuator and lock removed from tailgate. More details on the task included in the attached pdf document.


There is already some good info out there, including this video if the latch has already failed and the tailgate is closed:
How To Access Lower Tailgate Actuator Cable On LR3

And here's another couple of useful threads for reference:
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/d3-d4-rrs/...wont-open.html
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/d3-d4-rrs/...te-jammed.html

Hopefully someone finds the attached document useful. And thanks again to James for pioneering this bike cable solution.

Regards,
Scott

Where did you get the modified spare tyre winder?