made some progress today. took off the hinge covers and found they were packed with glass that was migrating down into the hinges every time i closed the tailgate and making a terrible sound. wrapped my fingers in duct tape sticky side out and removed 99% of that. I believe I have most all of the safety glass cubes out now.
i found that the left side of the release handle with the push rod was bent, also discovered the roller assembly reading window position has to be up for the release handle to work. looks like the release handle bends before the roller assembly allows the gate linkage to move so that explains the bent handle.
i still don't see the adjustment bolt and I've had the pivoting assembly out a few times. mine just has a flange on the push rod that hits the pivot linkage as best i can tell. might be a good place for a speed nut or something like that.
the tailgate will open via the release handle now if i manually pull the passenger side linkage rod slightly so it must be bent. I need one of the boys to do that, it's beyond my left handed only skills at the moment.
I found an electrical cable that had come loose from something inside the tailgate. It's on a coiled cord on the drivers side of the tailgate so it must move with the window? There's what appears to be a male spade lug on the end of the cable, haven't mated up that yin and yang yet. Anyone know what that is? i can post photos when the phone charges up.
need to figure out how to get the bottom window track/channel off the passenger side regulator cam, the drivers side is already bent enough that it came off. May try to loosen the hex nuts and just separate the cam guide plate from the channel. Not rusty, looks like it will come loose if I can get leverage on it.
ordered a bottom track/channel, rubber for the track/channel, and some other odds and ends from LMC. need to find the heat gun and get started on getting the replacement window's rusty track removed.
