Are Hardtop Liftgate Ball Studs Different Between TJ and YJ?

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boskoarmstrong

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Dec 1, 2020
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Hey Y'all,

We're fixing up our new-to-us '87 yj, and the liftgate needs to be replaced. My question is, do the ball studs that are used to connect the struts to the window change between the yj and tj? because I find parts labeled for the tj that look kind of like what I think I need, but I dont know if they are the same.
 
Well they’re a different orientation for one thing. They both have an L-shape three bolt bracket that mounts to the top and pushes the lift gate up. The YJ bracket is bolted up top and the TJ is down at bottom. The TJ mounts studs on the glass (up high) and the YJ mounts the lift gate studs to the bottom trim panel on the lift gate (down low). So the two are basically flipped and what they use to mount to the tailgate are completely different parts, locations, etc.

If what you need is the 3-bolt bracket that mounts to the top itself, it MIGHT work. Probably need to contact the seller for dimensions and compare with your top’s bolt pattern, etc. If you need a bracket for your lift gate, nothing from the TJ top will work.

I’m attaching two pics. The first is from a TJ top on eBay, the second is from my YJ. Hope that helps to compare. I’m still not exactly sure which part of the system you actually need.

TJ
8CC21919-5E49-4407-9978-EF078469D4D9.png

YJ
8E59AE03-CB5F-4F70-A8F1-C6FCBFF38767.jpeg
 
Awesome, thank you so much. Yeah, I was talking about the studs that attach to the window itself, I see how that was unclear :)
Thanks for the insight, this is gonna save us some wasted time and probably cash!
 
Something noteworthy I came across is the was the hardtop is made from an inner and outer shell which are bonded together. On the YJ top the upper ball stud has a lot of force on it from the strut when lowering the back window and this caused to the two shells to separate in that area. I push a bunch of JB Weld in between the two shells and then clamped them tight overnight. Looks ugly now but the rubber seal hides it and it's holding together pretty well. If I didn't repair it I imagine it would only get worse or even fail over time. The separation was about 6 inches in length .

22.jpg
 
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