Rear hatch pinching body, and clunking when lifting FIX

[malinwah]

Hi All!

I just picked up a 97 high milage 4Runner with 270k!!!

The interior and exterior is in pretty good shape, but noticed some light rust in some areas. Being in NorCal, it’s not much of an issue but I figured it’s best to deal with it now rather than later. One of the areas was where the rear lift gate and the body meet. There was a small paint chip where the hatch had pinched the body when fully lifted.

On a side note...

The rear hatch was also making an atrocious sound when lifting it, and I noticed that hatch wouldn’t stay up for 50% of the time. So I found what people were using for replacements and quickly ordered them.

While installing them I noticed that the plastic barrel (that doesn’t come with aftermarket struts) was worn out but didn’t think anything of it and swapped them out. Low and behold... Still clunking and pinching the body!!!


I quickly disassembled it and quickly realized that the worn plastic barrel had worn into the strut bracket on the hatch side

 

[malinwah]

Sorry... I can’t figure out how to post comments between the photos..

So I then went to the local “pick and pull” and got “new to me” brackets..
I then followed the instructions found here in the forums on how to make new barrel bushings from parts found at Home Depot. I’m sure they could be found at any hardware store. I decided to add the modified nylon washers for any side to side protection as the barrel bushing wears down.

Here are the pics. I hope this helps!

 

[Link12]

While that looks like a good fix for the strut bushings it has nothing to do with your hatch hitting the body. That would be a problem in the hatch hinges.

 

[phattyduck]

While that looks like a good fix for the strut bushings it has nothing to do with your hatch hitting the body. That would be a problem in the hatch hinges.

I'd agree with that. You can see the hinge to hatch bolts have been messed with (worn paint) - I'd bet the hatch isn't aligned correctly anymore.

-Charlie

 

[malinwah]

While that looks like a good fix for the strut bushings it has nothing to do with your hatch hitting the body. That would be a problem in the hatch hinges.

I'd hate to buy and swap out hinges considering it fixed the problem... The good news is that they're not touching.

 

[malinwah]

I'd agree with that. You can see the hinge to hatch bolts have been messed with (worn paint) - I'd bet the hatch isn't aligned correctly anymore.

-Charlie

I initially thought they were the hinges too, so when I adjusted them it only made the door sag and the roofline didn't match. Granted I wasn't pinching the body either, but looked horrible.... Those wrench marks are mine and were unblemished when I initially adjusted them. Not to say that the hinges can't be worn. I'll have to do a search to see if people have had success.