Patent ID: 7673929

Claim:
An assembly to pivotally connect a tailgate to a vehicle body, the assembly comprising: a viscous rotary damper; and a pair of hinge mechanisms on opposing sides of the tailgate, the hinge mechanisms constructed to be pivotally mounted to the tailgate for the movement about a pivot axis between a raised closed position extending generally vertically and a lowered open position extending generally horizontally; wherein at least one of the pair of hinge mechanisms comprises: a first hinge member constructed to be mounted to the tailgate; a second hinge member constructed to be mounted to the vehicle body; a connection member constructed to connect to the tailgate and to pivot with the tailgate, and to connect with the viscous damper; and a support member on the second hinge member, the support member being constructed to pivotally receive the connection member so as to allow the connection member to pivot with the tailgate, thus allowing for pivotal movement of the tailgate and support of its weight; wherein the viscous damper comprises a cover constructed to be fixed relative to the second hinge member; a rotor rotatably supported within the cover; and a viscous material disposed in a space between the cover and the rotor, and wherein the connection member connects to the rotor to enable rotation of the tailgate between the closed position and the open position to rotate the rotor relative to the cover of the viscous damper to provide a resistance torque that controls the velocity of the tailgate.