Need help stopping rain incursion at liftgate/tailgate

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jerryjoe28

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ive been doing auto glass for over 7 years and yes everything is adjustable! if the bottom isn't lining up just shim the top. this is not rigging it up it is the way you fix it. I see them all the time that are shimmed from the factory!
 
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Tahoe97

Tahoe97

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Shim rear lift gate glass

Can you provide the ABCs of shimming the lift gate glass? From what I can tell the two hinges are bolted to the roof with 2 bolts each but I did not see any shims when I originally removed these to install the top gasket. What is happening now is the right rear top of the lift gate glass is about a half cm too high as you view it from the side (above the roofline) and that obviously makes it equally high where it meets the top of the tailgate on the right side. I have tried to loosen and re-tighten that right side hinge. When I loosen it the lift gate will come down but when I re-tighten it, is rises back up. I wonder if the hinge might be slightly bent?

The problem with this overall design is if water gets under the gasket up high it will run down the perimeter and get under the gasket and flow into the foam carpet pad under the rear carpet. You may never know this is happening until you start smelling the mildew stink after years of the problem.

Any guidance is appreciated on the lift gate alignment issue. I have sealed up the gasket pretty well so water is not flowing in and under the rear carpet. I had to tape over the top of the lift gate glass where it meets the roof line so the water can flow over that gap and not into the channel. This reduces the volume of water and the resulting demand it places on the right and left junctions where the tailgate top meets the lift gate glass bottom.

Tahoe97
 
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