Retrofit power tailgate?

[RJL1400]

The lowering option on your truck is an air shock. Completely different than the power tailgate.

Ok thanks

Sponsored

 

[BigBluegen14]

I got the xlt with the truck release/lowering option but can't, for the life of me, understand why Ford didn't put the raise and lower as ONE option. Seems like they nickled and dimed each option which I get, but to split an option in two is cheap.

There's also an amount of upselling involved. They want you to move up to a Lariat not just spend a few hundred more $$ on an XLT

 

[RJL1400]

There's also an amount of upselling involved. They want you to move up to a Lariat not just spend a few hundred more $$ on an XLT

Well 50k is a lot of money. It’s getting outrageous how much they’re asking and that is the lower prices

 

[BigBluegen14]

Well 50k is a lot of money. It’s getting outrageous how much they’re asking and that is the lower prices

I completely agree, but all car companies do similar things so I can't necessarily fault Ford on it.

 

[Kanuck]

Like Pioneer74 states, it is a shock that lowers the tailgate. I installed a ZEEDEE on my 2011 just so it didn't drop hard when opened. I know in the 2015's the factory shock mount is in the fender behind the right rear taillight.

 

[hugheesd]

I’m attempting to swap out my stock xlt 2021 electric release tailgate for the power lower and raise tailgate with integrated step.
I found a complete tailgate with camera and sensor step and motor on OfferUp in my color from a higher trim most likely a platinum or lariat.

I thought this was gonna be a relatively simple swap out, but I ran into a few problems.

1) The wiring harnesses wiring different.
2) the hinge that the tailgate goes into on the driver side is different.

I’ll show in some pics here

this is the factory hinge on my drivers side. this piece is incompatible with a motorized tailgate. I did manage to order the correct piece from Ford parts department and I should have it in a few few days.

this is the part that slides onto the hinge on my factory tailgate driver side.

this is the part that slides onto the hinge on the new power tailgate I bought.

this is my original harness near the spare tire that the tailgate harness plugged into. It’s the same shape and size, but it only has a few wires connected to it.

this is the harness coming out of the new power motorized tailgate. It has many more wires. It fits into the same female harness under the car, but the harness under the car doesn’t have the extra wires that this harness needs.

What I’m wondering is how can I either change the harness underneath the car or get those extra wires from wherever they originate to bring them into the harness that I have underneath my car?

 

[AntimatterJoe]

I’m attempting to swap out my stock xlt 2021 electric release tailgate for the power lower and raise tailgate with integrated step.
I found a complete tailgate with camera and sensor step and motor on OfferUp in my color from a higher trim most likely a platinum or lariat.

I thought this was gonna be a relatively simple swap out, but I ran into a few problems.

1) The wiring harnesses wiring different.
2) the hinge that the tailgate goes into on the driver side is different.

I’ll show in some pics here

this is the factory hinge on my drivers side. this piece is incompatible with a motorized tailgate. I did manage to order the correct piece from Ford parts department and I should have it in a few few days.

this is the part that slides onto the hinge on my factory tailgate driver side.

this is the part that slides onto the hinge on the new power tailgate I bought.

this is my original harness near the spare tire that the tailgate harness plugged into. It’s the same shape and size, but it only has a few wires connected to it.

this is the harness coming out of the new power motorized tailgate. It has many more wires. It fits into the same female harness under the car, but the harness under the car doesn’t have the extra wires that this harness needs.

What I’m wondering is how can I either change the harness underneath the car or get those extra wires from wherever they originate to bring them into the harness that I have underneath my car?

Regarding the hinge on the new tailgate, would you be able to swap the bracket from your old tailgate?
As far as the harnesses go, they won’t have the wires since out trucks didn’t have the option. Now you can change that whole harness but I’m not sure how far that harness goes let alone how much it costs, but I do have wiring diagrams that i got myself and a few from Jesse I can share. It would more than likely be easier to just run the missing wires

 

[Ricksc]

Does anyone have an issue where their tailgate isn't fully lowering? When I press the button inside the cab to lower the gate it goes down, but the Key fob button only releases the lock and moves the tailgate a tiny bit, just enough to make it look like its released but not even lowered.

Sorry for threadjacking btw.

Do you have a bed cover on your truck? That could be too far back not allowing tail gate to drop.

 

[hugheesd]

Regarding the hinge on the new tailgate, would you be able to swap the bracket from your old tailgate?
As far as the harnesses go, they won’t have the wires since out trucks didn’t have the option. Now you can change that whole harness but I’m not sure how far that harness goes let alone how much it costs, but I do have wiring diagrams that i got myself and a few from Jesse I can share. It would more than likely be easier to just run the missing wires

So the brackets on the original tailgate is no problem because they aren’t connected to anything, but on the new tailgate, the bracket has some type of driveshaft going through it, which goes into the hinge on the side of the truck.
The original bracket doesn’t allow for that shaft to go through it.

as far as the wiring, yeah it looks like that harness underneath the car goes into the frame and disappears somewhere. I’m assuming going all the way to the front of the car so replacing it I don’t think it’s gonna be something easy but like you said if I knew the wiring where it starts, I could run a few new wires. If you have diagrams that would be highly appreciated.

 

[AntimatterJoe]

I gotcha, yeah that’s probably for the actual motor
Here are the diagrams I have

 

[hugheesd]

Oh my. Thank you! That’s a lot of info. I’m not sure how I’m going to figure all this out.

 

[AntimatterJoe]

Oh my. Thank you! That’s a lot of info. I’m not sure how I’m going to figure all this out.

Once you take it one module at a time, it’s easy to figure out

 

[hugheesd]

Does anyone know the pin layout for this harnesses how to get it? It appears to have al the wires I need.ita located near the spare tire and appears to be connecting to twilights , tow hitch, and tailgate

 

[hchavarria]

So I have a 302a XLT with the remote release tailgate, but I was wondering if it would eventually be possible to somehow add/convert my tailgate to the power up and power down found on the higher trim levels?

and if it can be done would all would be needed?

Did you ever able to do this swap? Trying to do the same

 

[AntimatterJoe]

Did you ever able to do this swap? Trying to do the same

Not yet, I’ve done several other oem upgrades but I’m still researching everything needed for this

Sponsored