Thread: top tail gate catches

angus1, could you please list the ingredients of that agent? I guess it would be acidic something plus hydraulic fluid.
I bet, it would end on Sunday with a drill bit and a tap-screw (the threading will be bigger then, if there's left anything but rust from that metal thing inside the tubing.

HI, there is no indication on the can as to contents however try Googling Reducteur H-72 for the product sheet which details everything.. It's packed in Australia By Jones & Park, 49 Birch St, Condell Park, NSW. As I said , I used it on my Series 3 and some (nearly all!) the nuts on the steering and chassis were seized solid. Tried rattle gun, etc. but this stuff really worked. After spraying and waiting 30 seconds I could remove with just a ring spanner. And it lasts. It claims that a tin will last a DIY lifetime, never heard of Land Rovers, obviously, but it definitely goes a long way. I still have the can I started with and it is still about a third full. A bonus is that it will act as an anti-corrosive on reassembly. Land Rover seem to have picked up their act because my Disco never seems to present problems with undoing nuts etc. My old Rangie was a problem with the tailgate as I remember, but the impact wrench got those screws out in the end, before Reducteur of course. Best of luck.

Can I ask where abouts you got your replacement catches from and how many $$$? Mine sees fit to open itself on the way to work each morning and then again on the way home in the afternoon.....

I got the brackets from Rangie Spares Pty Ltd, Melbourne, I think. Not sure if they still exist, it was in 1987. Actually all it was, as I remember, were two bits of angle which offset the struts so that they made the struts go over centre thus when you closed the tailgate they actually pushed the tailgate closed in the last part of the movement. I think they shifted the lower ball joints inward but it was a long time ago and I can't recall exactly. After fitting the brackets the tailgate never popped again. Unfortunately the Rangie is long gone so I'm unable to find any more info.

okay. i used wd40 instead. a large screwdriver and an adjustable wrench helped a lot. it's a job for two persons. removed the left one from the third attempt, with a squeak. as for the right one - used a drill bit and the screw just snapped into two halves. what's interesting, in my case it was only the screws that pass throughout the tubing and fix the bracket for telescopic thingie that retained the locks. as for the smaller screws (the outer ones) there was no thread left in the frame (because of rust) so they were holding nothing.

now for the most interesting part. the initial plan was to remove the bottom element of the frame and replace it with a new one, made of aluminum. after I removed it, I realized that the lower parts of the side elements are also very rusty, and actually there's more epoxy glue than the metal in those parts. besides, with these steel angles I don't know how to install the lower horizontal element…
thinking of cutting the side elements in two parts…

guys, what happened to your locks? mine, although they are quite old, seem to be working fine. besides, they seem to be perfectly repairable.

guys, what happened to your locks? mine, although they are quite old, seem to
be working fine. besides, they seem to be perfectly repairable.

They are repairable but hardly worth it when the last time I bought them even locally they were only about $85 and I think from UK about $40each.

To fix them you have to weld a bit onto each of the flat plates then make a new edge , as the problem is that the two edges that must hold together inside get rounded over time.. I didn't have a welder at the time and wonder whether I was good enough thinking I had fixed them then finding out 500KM up the Tanami that they started opening again.
Regards Philip A

they say, time is money. beside, 85$ is the whole fortune over here! (it's the whole tank of fuel!)
anyway, my locks were working fine.
still thinking of ablating the lower say 8" of the frame's both sidebars. It's a messy job, but probably doable.

If the catches are worn, swapping them to the other side of the car can be an alternative to replacing them.