Wagon rear-door repair kit ... which is best?

Hi all you wagon owners,

I'm now on my 2nd Volvo wagon (formerly '86 740 wagon, now a '98 V70)
and sure enough, in both cases I need(ed) to keep fixing the rear door
using the Volvo repair kit (containing new clips, etc...).

However - there's a fella on eBay who's selling a DIFFERENT repair kit
and who says that this one should last much longer (for good??) than the
regular one we get (and have to repeat every so often) from Volvo.

Anyone have any experience with this 'other' kit? If so, are you happy
with it? Does it really make it THAT much better?

Thanks in advance for any/all input.

Yours,

Allan Shearer
Canada

 

I drove two 3" self tapping screws through the plastic cover, using brass
cup washers and into the metal of the tailgate itself. End of problems, and
doesn't look bad at all. Because of the carpeting on my tailgate, it doesn't
really show. The clip kits are a stop-gap measure, and won't really solve
the issue. I find it strange that Volvo used the same crappy system for
their tailgate covers through the 7/9 series, then onto the 850's and now V
series. You'd think they would have figured it out by now...

RS

 

What exactly is this problem?

Never had a tailgate problem with our 960, or 740's (fair enough, our 740's
we only had for 4 years each, and they were bought new... so we didn't
really have any issues with them, but our 960 is getting old and should be
experiencing age-related problems... such as potential, this one).

 

Hi Rob

The problem is with the interior plastic shell which is attached to the rear
door using plastic, pressure/friction tabs/clips (for lack of a better
description). As you open and close the door over the years these tabs
either break or let-go of their grip on the plastic shell ... which then
rattles as you drive down the road. If you don't attend to it, more and
more of these clips will let-go and your tailgate door will begin looking
like a clamshell from the inside ... the pastic pulling away from the door -
especially noticable when you open the door and the plastic shell hangs down
about an inch or more from the rest of the door.

The official Volvo repair kit costs approx. $25 CAD, and then about 1+ hour
labour to install. The problem is ... the repair kit is only temporary.
It'll just happen again and again.

Looks like a few have found ways to *fix* the problem more-permanently using
metal/self-tapping screws. I'm about to go this route myself - but wanted
to first ask around and see if this is a proven/recommended route. And if
so ... what to WATCH-OUT for (literally) when making these drill/screw
holes.

Allan

 

Thanks RS

Sounds like this is the way to go. So, 3" screws ... just wear/which
direction did you place them? I'd hate to drill/screw into something I'm
not 'sposed-to on the other side - or worse, through the exterior of the
door. DOH!

Allan

 

Hi. About the screw holes; take the annoying cover off, and look at the
tailgate. You can put the holes anywhere you like, there are plenty of
places to screw into the "meat" of the gate without hitting any components,
as you will see. Just pick two spots that will offer good grip, and not too
close to the edge. The closer to the horizontal center of the cover, the
better. You can use shorted screws if you like, I just happened to have a
couple of nice brass 3" around. And uh, make sure you stop drilling before
you go out the other side...

RS

 

Thanks... i'll have to check out our 960 later on then.... There is a little
bit of rattling, but I think it's pretty much the stuff we've got in that
sub-trunk (tool kit, first aid stuff.... all slamming into each other as we
drive around).

 

And uh, make sure you stop drilling before
you go out the other side...<<

Oooh ... you mean drill from the INSIDE out? ha ha ha ... yeah, good idea,
eh?!

Thanks for your experience in this, Rusty. I'll take a crack at this soon.

Yours,

Allan

 

and I re-built the little tin pieces out of some thicker stock I found at
a hardware store and they have held up great.
Bruce