I finally bought a new manual Tailgate Window Crank for my 65 Wagon after someone told me they are still available. They come almost complete, but you have to use a couple pieces from my old crank, like the cylinder lock, and another cylinder shaped piece that spins and grabs the mechanism that lowers the window. I took my original one apart faily easy except the lock wont come out, even though I have the key and it turns fine. Anyways I'm willing to do without the lock as long as I can higher and lower my window. But after assembling it I realized there's a another piece I need from my old crank which I have but I don't know where exactly it goes. I know what it does, it keeps the cylinder from spinning freely while you're trying to lower the window. So without it you can crank all day and the window will not lower. It looks to me like a tiny operating rod, with a spring in it. (yes, I was in the Marines I can assemble and disassemble weapons, but wagon parts are a little more complicated!) Can someone that's been in my situation help me or point me to detailed instructions? I did a search on this forum and it looks like someone asked years ago but didn't get it resolved. Thank you.:)

I have two 70 wagons, Go to the wagon forum and get to Pete. He is the moderator and is the MAN for wagon questions.
Bob

OK, I'll look there for a link to him. Thank you.

I e-mailed Pete yesterday but haven't heard back from him yet. In the meantime, if anyone else can help me out please post here or send me a message. Thanks.

I've got two '66 wagon tailgates here...one power, one manual...what exactly do you need? Would pics help? What areas?
I'm assuming they are the same or close to a '65.

This is a piece that mine has and the new one doesn't. Since the new one just spins freely when I crank, but doesn't actually have grip to lower the window, I think I need to put this piece on the new one, but not exactly sure where. My old one just fell apart afetr I took off some pieces so I don't know where it goes. It looks like a little rod, with a hole in it, I beleive the spring goes inside the hole. It's tiny, so it's hard to get a good photo.


http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g143/GracieFuentes/041907_1558.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g143/GracieFuentes/041907_1559.jpg

These are my cranks. I believe all the years are the same. Some people say they're not, but I ordered one for a later year and they are the same. The older one may look a little different because it has parts broken off it, which is why I need a new one.
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g143/GracieFuentes/DSCF0900.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g143/GracieFuentes/DSCF0895.jpg

The lock I can't get out, but who cares, I just need the new one to crank!

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g143/GracieFuentes/DSCF0899.jpg

This is how the new one came, nothing in the center, but I have these parts in my old one.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g143/GracieFuentes/DSCF0898.jpg

This is the back of my old one. You could see a lot of parts are broken off. But I have the steel cylinder that attaches to it, it's intact.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g143/GracieFuentes/DSCF0891.jpg

Below is the steel cylinder that spins and turns the T that lowers the tailgate window. This does not come with the new one (info for anyone who wants to order a new crank).

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g143/GracieFuentes/DSCF0919.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g143/GracieFuentes/DSCF0916.jpg

sorry, i have been out of town. i just emailed you. this;
ok, put the lock in the bezel, put the spring in the part. in the back there is place you can stick the part with the spring first in the square hole as you insert the lock into the hole. it takes a little playing with. this is a very dificult thing to explane. basicly you compress the spring all the way in so you can push the lock in all the way and turn it, so when you let the part and the spring go, the lock is going to hold it there.
pete

Just thought I'd post an update. Pete was helping me but was on vacation and the crank was at home. I guess I know now that the piece wont stay in unless the lock is in place. But I still don't know how to take the lock out of the old crank to put it in the new one. I've tried in the unlocked position, and in the locked position, also somewhere in between both positions, but it wont come out. I'm not pulling as hard as I want to because until I know in which position it slides out, I don't want to force it in the wrong position and break it. I have the key and the lock is clean and in good shape, so I don't think it would be stuck with gunk or anything. I just feel like it a combination lock, which I don't have the combination for!:confused:

Any progress getting your old lock out ?

Unfortunately no. Since I don't know in which position it has to be in , I'm afraid to keep pulling on it. A lock to that piece would be impossible to find. It's just been sitting there looking pretty in the box. It really feels like a combination lock. I would move it slighly and pull, move it a little more and pull, but nothing. :confused: So I kinda gave up for now, until someone can help me.

i have one without the key. i cant get it out either. the last one i just broke it apart and put the cylinder in a new handle. i think i would put the key in the lock. while turning the key to draw the side bar in on the cylinder give it a smack from the back. if not bust the crap out of the housing! thats a technical term.

I GOT THE LOCK OUT!!!!!

:hurray: :) :D :beers: :disco: :p :yes: :hurray:

It's just been sitting there for weeks so I thought I'd take it out and make a fresh attempt today. All I did was oil it up real good from every angle and it started moving around really good. It was moving freely before I did that, but with the oil it moved around way better. It practically fell out when I moved it with the key all the way counterclockwise. So the secret is OIL IT AND TURN COUNTERCLOCKWISE! I'm so trhilled, BUT, I still can't figure out where this little rod and spring go. There's so many possibilities as to how and where. It wont work without it either. It's a little rod with a hole for the spring. It's hard to see it cause it's tiny, but for those who've done it, you know exactly what it is.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g143/GracieFuentes/DSCF0933.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g143/GracieFuentes/041907_1559.jpg

hey!
ok, i am holding one right here in my hand.
i guess i cant be this one out because i dont have the key! is that right?

ok the little pieces you have go as such:
put the spring in the hole of the other piece,
put the pieces together in the rectangular hole in the back of the crank body,
pointing the spring in first and the hook end facing towards the rear of the vehicle if it were on the car.
push it in alllllllllllllll the way till it cant go in no mo. stick the lock cylinder in and turn it. you need to spin that cam lie feature on the end of the lock cylinder till it passes by the first hook like thing that the spring is in, then you can let it go and the lock cylinder will hold it in and the spring and thing will hold the lock cylinder in. pretty clever but a bit*h to work with.

It really seems to me like the lock doesn't really lock unless all these little parts are in place. So I think as long as you have another key that can slide into the lock, doesn't have to match, it looks like it will turn it and can be used to pull it out. I'm going to test it though as soon as I find another key that can slide in far enough. But without the oil it will never work, right now most of the oil is gone and I could already feel the difference as I'm turning the key.

Thanks for posting the detailed instructions. I'm going to try to assemble it shortly, I'm almost afraid to start trying again!

I tried a short key that slides in to see if another one will work but it wont turn. I don't see how the lock works. I pulled it back out of the base and stuck the real key to see if it makes any little mechanisms on the lock move, but it doesn't. What the real key does is turn the entire lock while its stuck in the base itself. But I couldn't duplicate this action with a wrong key. The lock is very tricky as it is. At least 3 out of 5 times it wont even turn with the real key! So I still don't know for sure if you need the right key to get the lock out. But if you want to try to pull it out, it needs to turn counterclockways until the top of little key slot is pointing at 10 o'clock and the bottom of the little slot points to 4 o'clock.

I have mine assemblemed now! :) I think it's correct but I hate not knowing. It's spinning correctly and looks like it's holding together.

The BAD NEWS is that the base is slighly thicker than mine. As a result, it doesn't allow the cylinder to reach the T on the tailgate. It misses it by about a 1/2 inch. So I guess the later year cranks ARE different. But now I'm going to swap out the base back to mine. The part I mostly needed was the part that surrounds the lock, the part the lock slides into, cause the little nipple had broke off the back of it. My base has the screw parts broken off so in wont stay on the wagon, but at least I can use it. Now I'll have to have someone solder parts on if I want it to stay on the wagon, which would be nice! But I could sure use a base if anyone has one.