Thread: Manual tailgate release D3

Hi All,

Thanks for all that have contributed the this thread.

I recently purchased my first Disco, an 09 D3.

I am interested in this thread because my wife and I use the rear tailgate everyday. I have 4 Kids, all in car seats or boosters so I can not get access via the middle row. We use the tailgate, endlessly!!!

Question is has anyone tried or thought of installing a manual car door handle on the inside, sitting near where most have the cable exiting through the carpet. Therefore acting as a manual exit for the rear passenger and or emergency. I know a few have rear cargo barriers and boxes in your considerations, but I have the car full of Kids.

Say a flat black internal door handle from a Defender...?

Actually LR has thought about a manual release and even knows how. The FFRR HSE has a manual release. After all the problems with the 3, I figured that when the 4 came out, it would have a manual release - not so.

As to putting one in oneself, I suppose it could be an upgrade kit for someone enterprising; as to using the interior door latch from a Defender, doesn't the flipper still break and you have to open the door using the exterior latch?

It was a skill all Defender/Series owners developed to set themselves apart from the pretenders.

I think that the tradition is still being maintained, but updated a bit.

does that mean that D4s have a different mechanism so may not fail ????....

Anyway i feel more comfortable with having this manual access mod in place ....even though i dont have a cargo barrier so i can acess the pull tab fairly easly the way im set up .....but would hate not to be able to get to my fridge for a coldie ......

Originally Posted by sniegy
Nice to see the golf club doing a great job holding things up :-)

Also, where you have left the cable tucked away in the upper section of the lower tailgate, you may want to think about extending it & having it sit near the second row doors (again not sure if you have a cargo barrier installed &/or load space packed to the roof) as if it fails again & you have said barrier installed you will not be able to get at the pull cable.

Just a thought.

Cheers

@ Scarry - I have seen no failure in a D4 yet !

Originally Posted by landoman

does that mean that D4s have a different mechanism so may not fail ????....

Anyway i feel more comfortable with having this manual access mod in place ....even though i dont have a cargo barrier so i can acess the pull tab fairly easly the way im set up .....but would hate not to be able to get to my fridge for a coldie ......

I like many have had the tailgate stuck shut due to the cable breaking at the 90 degree alloy fitting (designed to fail) which attaches to the actuator.

I would like to add my 2 cents worth.

When performing step one from inside the back of the wagon.

You must use a lot of force to pop the carpeted (thick plastic panel in the lower wagon door with a thick screw driver from the under the tailgate upper trim. Recommend taking a deep breath as it feels like you are going to do some damage. Start in the middle where the horizontal meets the 45 degree upper trim and work towards the Left side (when facing rearwards). Use some more screw drivers or butter knives as additional levers (place holders).

The web link below is v good to describe what to do next, so I wont repeat it. Thanks again to all who come up with such awesome fixes for what is poor design from the owners perspective anyway. Great for the stealers.....

http://www.disco3.co.uk/gallery/albu...ostics.pdfming step one from the inside of the back of the wagon

I noted the comment in a previous post re no apparent failures of the metal L cable now in the D4.

Re my 2005 LR3, while the newer style metal L cable bit did not fail, the original factory installed gear motor inside the metal box that pulls on the cable did fail.

As such, the results were the same as if the L had broken; the upper hatch would not open. Hence I think even if the newer metal L cable release is installed, both vehicles still need a manual hatch release. It seems however LR still does not agree.

For me, the good news was that my fishing line manual release would still have resolved the problem but I did discover that with the engine running, there was still enough life in the gear motor to pull on the cable and open the upper hatch. With the engine off, the perhaps 2 volts lower system voltage was insufficient to power the gear motor but with the engine running, system voltage was higher and the motor was still strong enough to get one more pull out of it.

The replacement gear motor assembly, (the metal box), was part number FUG500010.

hi all,
am i missing something here, pulled lower rear door apart to put in an manual release mechanism, and when depressing the top push button to release only the two actuators release on the sides not the problematic middle actuator for some reason. see video.

cant seem to see why it wont push in or out, can push it in manually but not electronically as it is supposed to do so. are the bolts holding in position the earthing bolts perhaps hence no power. help. otherwise the lower tailgate opens and locks fine. surely when depressing the button the actuator should slide side to side. any advice appreciated.

video taped from iphone downloaded to pc as a .mov extention can view on pc but will not load onto aulro stating invalid attachment - how do people download video's to aulro please