Tailgate won't close - 1999 Limited

[golden marsh]

How hard is it to replace the latch? I'm not particularly handy, but I'm willing to try if it doesn't require special tools or knowledge.

Thanks

 

[thorridder]

How hard is it to replace the latch? I'm not particularly handy, but I'm willing to try if it doesn't require special tools or knowledge.

Thanks

i think mine did the same a while back, use a screw driver to lock and unlock it and just load it with WD-40. thats what fixed mine.

 

[golden marsh]

I tried that, but maybe I gave up too early. If I lift the handle, I can close the door, but the latch isn't catching. So for the time being, I have a rope tied to the handle inside to make sure the tailgate doesn't fly open when I'm driving.

Any other suggestions?

 

[thorridder]

when i tryed closing mine it would just bounce back with a *slam*
it took a couple of tryed but eventually it fixed, thats all i got thats easy

 

[ironhippy]

I tried that, but maybe I gave up too early. If I lift the handle, I can close the door, but the latch isn't catching. So for the time being, I have a rope tied to the handle inside to make sure the tailgate doesn't fly open when I'm driving.

Any other suggestions?

I "fixed" it by loading on the wd40, it took about 5 minutes of lubing and poking with a screwdriver. Unless it's completely rusted out, you should be able to get it to work again.

If you do it get unstuck, just keep it lubed and it should last a while. Mine first seized on my back in 2008.

 

[golden marsh]

It is rusty, but I've been able to get it moving. I just can't get the latch to re-engage. Any other tips or thoughts?

I'll mess with it some more tonight.

 

[golden marsh]

New problem to add: rear window went down on its own and won't go back up

Anyone have any thoughts? Really trying to avoid having to take this in if I can fix it myself, but not having much luck.

It definitely has a fair bit of rust, which may be the source of all of these problems.

 

[bigwalleye]

Similar problem with my Latch

How hard is it to replace the latch? I'm not particularly handy, but I'm willing to try if it doesn't require special tools or knowledge.

Thanks

My rusty latch started acting up a couple of years ago but I would manually open and close it and I was OK with that. Now the blast of cold winter air we got here in December appears to have helped to rust shut (but in the open position).

The latch is 'stuck' in the open position, and the gate is half closed (better than half open, I guess!) In any event, any ideas for replacing this sucker? Even after the weather warmed up the thing would not budge...sprayed some WD40 all up in there but I don't think that did a thing.

 

[gptoy96]

Mine acted up for years off and on till one day it eventually gave up completley. I ended up replacing it with a new one. WD40 worked temporarily over that time but the hatch spent a lot of time being tied to the back seats to stay closed.

When I went to replace it I broke off all the bolts as they were rusted too and had to take it in for the shop to do it.

 

[Jason B]

Anyone have pics of what you did? When I try to close the hatch, the metal coated piece doesn't seem to retract all the way and when you to try close it, it just makes a bang sound. I can put my finger and push on the piece back and then it will close, but this is annoying.

 

[Wikano]

During my experience I found out that there is a rubber piece that can get ajar and cause the lock to not cycle properly. With no way to to open up the latch mechanism, I just got a working one from the junk yard. Just remove the hatch panels from the interior side and replace. 15 minutes and simple tools... Easy.

Just be sure not to bend the metal braid coming from the lock mechanism. Sorry, no pics.

 

[Dephcon]

I had the same issue and actually pulled the loop off the body to see if it was adjustable and its not. No play with the counter sunk screws. I then tried pulling the latch mechanism out of the tailgate. That was a mistake. As with all the screws on my truck them broke pretty easily. When all was said and done, the issue was the latch system just needed to be lubed up. The latch part that catches the loop wasn't moving freely enough to click into the locked position when the tailgate was closed. Super hard slamming of the tailgate wasn't enough to get it to lock any longer, I hosed it down with WD40, moved the latch piece back and forth until it moved freely and my issue was fixed.

2hours of drilling out broken screws when 10mins and a can of WD40 would have fixed the issue. Now I can push the hatch closed and hear it latch with one hand. Just a bump when its down.

I thought the movable latch was rubber at first, but its just a coating to absorb the force of the strikes when closing.

 

[Jason B]

Good info, thanks. Yea, I saw that coating too, and just realized it's like a plastic coating over the metal.

 

[Jason B]

So, where exactly are you shooting in the WD-40, right in that area at the bottom of gate where it latches shut?

 

[MN4runnerman]

I took an unorthodox approach to fixing mine since the PO had a shop "fix" it. It turns out that they just lubed it and said they fixed it to the previous owner who thought that after the shop did it that he wouldn't have to any more, and to make it worse the auto shop welded the bolts on because they broke the originals. So after cutting the latch off I soaked it in gasoline and then lit it on fire to get the rubber cover off of the latch because it was preventing it from moving. Needless to say I will get a new one but the one that I fixed works and I installed it correctly with nuts and bolts instead of what that shop did, it just doesn't lock when you press the lock button which isn't a big deal to me,