There's a very unusual rubber grommet on the bottom of the tailgate on '70-'72 El Caminos that the back-up light wiring harness passes through. No one reproduces it and due to age, none have survived in really good condition. I've searched for over a year for a usable one with no success and finally contacted TC member "all years". John sent one to me gratus (thank you John) that I would like to rejuvenate to get the original pliability back.

Anyone know what will bring back the suppleness of old rubber? I'm not talking about cosmetic cr*p like Armoral, but rather something that will soften rubber without destroying it.

Maybe soaking it in something like this or a similar product?:)
http://www.barsproducts.com/1050.htm

I don't know of anything and have wondered about this myself. If you decide to experiment on some scrap pieces, I would try baby oil, leather conditioner, and maybe some sort of gasket/seal conditioner.

Rich, we use Fedron at work for cleaning rubber laser printer pick up rollers. It also makes the rubber more pliable and slighly swells it.

It may work for your application also.

Here is a link:

http://www.federalpg.com/fedron.php

Mike

GOOP hand cleaner.

I even contacted Softseal to see if they were interested in making them...nope. I need one for my car too. My old wiring harness boot was pretty my destroyed. I'm gonna have to rig something up.

Soak it in glycerine.

GOOP hand cleaner.

Bingo! I've seen this work a number of times. If the piece is really hard and brittle not much of anything will bring it back but GOOP is the only thing I've seen that will bring back some of the pliability without destoying the rubber itself.

Old --Rubber and Plastic,, I was told by a guy that the petrolem in rubber and plastic will keep it very pliable. When the petrolem in the product is gone the rubber-plastic will become hard and glass like. And prone to cracking and or braking. I think this could be very true.
Why do you want to make it SOFT and PLIABLE ??? I just had to write that ..........LOL
Bob:thumbsup:

Old --Rubber and Plastic,, I was told by a guy that the petrolem in rubber and plastic will keep it very pliable. When the petrolem in the product is gone the rubber-plastic will become hard and glass like. And prone to cracking and or braking. I think this could be very true.
Why do you want to make it SOFT and PLIABLE ??? I just had to write that ..........LOL
Bob:thumbsup:

Bob:

In answer to your question: The grommet portion of the piece is rectangular in shape and for a grommet, has a reasonably large mass to it that has to be worked into the rectangular cut-out in the tail gait.

More importantly, the grommet has a 16" long rubber tube that is a molded part of it. The wall thickness of the tube is reasonably thin for flexibility. The tube passes from the bottom of the tail gait to the left side of the body and acts like a conduit for the back-up light harness. It needs to be flexible because it moves as the tail gate moves when it is raised and lowered. As the rubber ages and hardens, the flexibility is lost and the thin wall of the tube cracks.

Try a product called "Rubber renew" you can get it at any good electronics supplier. It's used to rejuvenate hardened rubber parts in VCR's, or any electronic equipment with drive rollers.

I applied it to my grommets for the front signal lights that pass thru sheet metal from the inside of the engine compartment to the outside area in behind the bumper.

Good luck.

Thanks guys. They're all excellent suggestions. I finally wound up using automatic transmission seal rejuvenator, only because I had some around. It seems to work pretty good. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this part, I mentioned in an earlier reply that it has a 16" long rubber tube that runs from the bottom of the Elky tail gate into the drivers' side quarter. The tube acts as a flexible conduit for the back-up light harness and bends and flexes in several locations as the tailgate is lowered and raised. As the rubber ages and hardens, these flex point disintegrate and the tube breaks into pieces. There's probably not a single Elky out there that still has this piece completely intact. The piece that TC member all years sent me still had the tube all together in one piece but it was badly broken up at the flex points from use and age. After soaking the entire piece to soften it, I inserted a 1/2" diameter dowel rod into the tube to give it some stability and them slipped a 3/4" length of shrink tubing over it to keep things together. It will be a while before I try installing it so the jury is still out. Hopefully, the shrink tubing will be flexible enough to avoid any problems.

Again, thanks for all of the great suggestions.

Big White :
I lost the screw and the metal clip, That attaches to the left hinge. Almost had a fit. Found it about a week later, It was where I put it.
All week I was thinking " Where do I get these two little items "
Bob

I reconditioned the grommet that holds my gas tank vent tube thats in my trunk by soaking it in Silicone for a couple of days.



Rocky