97 rodeo rear glass won't open!

[v7ofv]

well, i have searched the forum and found a few similar cases to mine however no fixes, so.... here is the deal.

i was rear ended by someone a few weeks ago and to make a long story short i have to fix the damage myself. the other vehicle only hit my spare tire which dented the tailgate and did some damage to the mechanism inside which pops the rear glass hatch. the silver button on the tailgate has no tension in it whatsoever now, and pressing the electronic release on the dashboard still has an audible effect but cannot pop the glass either. so i got inside the back and notice a trim button behind the glass latch. i thought surely this is here to open the glass from the inside. well i played with it for a bit and ended up widening the hole to about and inch in diameter and still cannot figure out how to open that glass from the inside. any help would be greatly appreciated as i have my work tools stored in the back and i'm getting a little tired of getting them in and out through the rear doors!

later,

adam.

[Ramblin Fever]

Exact same scenerio happened to me 5yrs ago when someone backed into my Rodeo - I ended up having a body shop pop the glass open to keep it from shattering. The glass had so much pressure and the body shop told me that if it wasn't popped just right, it would shatter.

That back glass is REALLY expensive, and I didn't want to risk a $3k dollar expense on just the glass alone.

Still have my original back window, not sure exactly what they did.

[v7ofv]

well, thats a bummer. i don't suppose that was a cheap job either. the thing that bugs me is that hole behind the locking mechanism. i know it is there for a reason. thanks for the input.

later.

adam.

[Ramblin Fever]

Cost to pop the glass was only $30 or so.

New tailgate, paint job to match = $400

Overall not bad, considering the big F350 that backed into it did a pretty good number.