Hi All,
Hope everyones Thanksgiving was great. I have a question on the lower gate hinge on the 70 Vist Cruiser I am doing. How tight should the lower left hinge be?? Mine seems quite loose but seemed to open and close ok but alignment was off a little(gate not on car now). If it is to loose does someone make a repair kit or keep getting used ones till I get a decent one?? I don't have one to compare so need some help on how it should be. Thanks

 

I've never seen a repair kit for that hinge.
Are you sure it's the lower left hinge? That thing is pretty substantial, maybe they do wear with a lot of use?
Mine gate drops down a little on the right when you open it as a door, has some up and down play. The strike has the angle thing to raise the door when you close it so it's probably normal for them to have a little play, hard not to on a door that wide and heavy. There's that roller on the left upper jamb inside there that the tailgate part latches around and if that's worn or not adjusted right it can make it loose and drop a lot.
The Fisher manual explains how it works and how to adjust it.
I didn't take mine apart, body shop pulled the gate and doors to paint so I'm not real familiar with it all. I do know you have to be careful after you put on the new weatherstripping because it will hold the gate out a little and when you open it as a door the left side will want to rub the body when it swings, takes a few months to compress, and even then you're only talking a hair clearance.
Einstyn is the only place to get the tailgate seals, has them on evilbay and available through his site, mine fit perfectly, the molded ends where it meets up with the window seal are even correct. The tailgate window seal took longer to compress on top to where the glass would go into it all the way. I busted a tab on the glass retainer channel from trying to force the glass up into that seal with the motor when raising it.
The car was just finished when I broke it, first test run and I didn't even get out of the driveway.

 

BlueVista Thanks for the information. I imagine there is some playjust seemed loose to me. I did buy the weathersrtipping from einstyn but am a long ways from installing them. The gate is pretty heavy so want to paint the jambs and install it once and if a repair is needed want to do it now.