Just bought a 2001, noticing some mild issues

[ssk1]

I just picked up a dealer maintained, one owner 2001 SR5 V6 with a clean title, and noticed that the tailgate is really hard to close, as in, when I try to gently slam it closed, it just "bounces" and doesn't latch. It really takes a solid slam with followthrough to get it to close properly.

It hasn't been in any accidents, and everything looks like they're in their proper places. Any ideas as to why it is difficult to close?

Second issue: The rollup cargo cover is too short! It has the rounded brackets, but it's about 1/4" short on each side so it doesn't properly seat in the cups. I have no idea how this happened, but I received the vehicle this way. I have looked online for pictures, and I can't understand how this cargo cover is too narrow...

Any replies would be appreciated! Thanks!

 

[Whitson Metalworks]

No offense but MAN do I wish those were my only issues!! The tailgate just needs adjustment and or lubing. Try coating the striker with white out or something like that and see what kind of marks it makes on the latch and go from there. As for the cover, never had one so you're on your own there.

 

[scrhew]

Simple solution

This could be a dumb question but for the cover and you sure its not upside down? Try flipping it over where its feeding in the right direction.:rofl:

 

[ssk1]

No offense but MAN do I wish those were my only issues!! The tailgate just needs adjustment and or lubing. Try coating the striker with white out or something like that and see what kind of marks it makes on the latch and go from there. As for the cover, never had one so you're on your own there.

I thought maybe the latch was sticky, so I drenched it in WD40 to get all the gunk off of it... way smoother now but still "bouncing" when I slam it.

That white-out trick is clever; I'll see what I can do from there. As for "needing adjustment", where exactly would I make these adjustments?

I tried removing the rubber bumpers on the sides of the cab that look like they're supposed to cushion the tailgate when you slam it closed, and even with both sides off, the gate still bounces.

And no offense taken; I think I really lucked out with this car. Picked it up here in San Francisco for $8400 with 166k miles on it. I think I might have paid too much, but the guy had every dealership service record since buying it new for things like OEM wiper blades and coolant. It is definitely a beautiful machine, and I hope it lasts as long as the 400k mi 2003 4Runner that my company assigned to me.

This could be a dumb question but for the cover and you sure its not upside down? Try flipping it over where its feeding in the right direction.:rofl:

Yeah I'm pretty confident that it's not upside-down. I even removed the end brackets (big mistake; the coiled spring unraveled and I haven't yet had time to fix it so that it has enough torque to pull the cover closed all the way) to see if somehow the screws slipped in towards the center making it shorter, but that wasn't the issue. I'll attach a picture so you can see why it's bugging me so much.

Pictures:

If I can't figure out this cargo cover deal, I think I'll just switch to using a moving blanket to cover my cargo. It would double as a sheet if I have to sleep in my car when I go out rock climbing.

Thanks for the replies guys

 

[ColoradoTim]

Can you throw a shim behind the female part of the holder? That might solve it.....

 

[zgensler31]

My cargo cover does the same, but its the earlier style cover...built the same wah just with different end pieces. I couldn't ever figure it out either so I just took it out.

 

[scrhew]

Sorry I misunderstood what you were saying...I thought you were saying it short length wise and wouldn't reach the slots that hold it to keep it covering the cargo area. Only thing I could think would be to shim it somehow.

 

[TNRunner99]

When you open the hatch, does the handle reset back like it should after you let it go? I haven't had this happen on my 4runner but I do have another SUV that does this. When I open the rear hatch, the handle gets stuck in the open position and when I close it, it will bounce back and not latch. Just something else to check out.

 

[Monkeybutt2000]

When you open the hatch, does the handle reset back like it should after you let it go? I haven't had this happen on my 4runner but I do have another SUV that does this. When I open the rear hatch, the handle gets stuck in the open position and when I close it, it will bounce back and not latch. Just something else to check out.

This is EXACTLY what my 4Runner does,I've just been too lazy too fix it.

 

[BlackCat914]

When you open the hatch, does the handle reset back like it should after you let it go? I haven't had this happen on my 4runner but I do have another SUV that does this. When I open the rear hatch, the handle gets stuck in the open position and when I close it, it will bounce back and not latch. Just something else to check out.

Yep, good thinking. When I got my 4Runner it would either not close or it wouldn't open. I took the handle apart and had to shim it with a metal piece to make harder contact with the little metal sweeper finger it moves. Works fine now, too.

 

[2002tii]

Can you take photos of the ends of the cargo cover? Some of the plastic is broken on one of the ends of mine and it appears to do the same thing - doesn't seat into the mounts.

 

[ssk1]

Can you throw a shim behind the female part of the holder? That might solve it.....

I could do that... but other than it not looking very elegant, it also doesn't explain why the cargo cover body is not long enough to fully seat into the cups. I think I may just forgo it altogether and use a moving blanket to cover my whatever I decide to keep back there.

When you open the hatch, does the handle reset back like it should after you let it go? I haven't had this happen on my 4runner but I do have another SUV that does this. When I open the rear hatch, the handle gets stuck in the open position and when I close it, it will bounce back and not latch. Just something else to check out.

When I open the hatch, the handle does reset, as in it doesn't stay in the open-and-pulled-towards-you position.

Can you take photos of the ends of the cargo cover? Some of the plastic is broken on one of the ends of mine and it appears to do the same thing - doesn't seat into the mounts.

Can't take photos today, but none of the plastic is broken. I'm just going to pull these numbers out of the air to make a point, but lets say the distance from cup to cup is 55", the cargo cover isn't seating correctly because it's only 54.5" wide. SOMEHOW the main body of the cargo cover is shorter by .25" on each side. I have no clue how this could have happened. It's so bizarre. It's got the right brackets to go with the cups, but it's just not wide enough somehow...

Anyhow, thanks for all the replies. I may have to take apart the lift gate, but I'd rather not...