One day last week, the tailgate just stopped latching. First time ever in 14 yrs. I had experienced problems with it rattling before and wrapped the 'hook' in tape, which helped though it was a bit gummy.
A search revealed it's a common problem with the general solution being 'replace the latch', which is ~ $160. I decided to remove it and have a look.
Previously, I'd removed the interior tailgate panel due to rattles. Even the 'fix kit' failed. The lock is held in with three large Torx bolts and is easy to remove.
Here's the visible side of the latch:
The 'gate' refused to latch in the closed position. I pushed it all the way up and it would just slide down. I thought perhaps a spring had broken internally.
Here's the back side with the actuator removed:
After a close-up inspection and fiddling around with the various pieces, I still couldn't understand what was going on. The 'gate' shown in Photo 1 is buried down inside the upper part of photo 2. Very hard to see down in there.
So I resigned myself to grind off the heads of the rivets holding the lower piece together. After taking a punch to the rivet stems to punch them out, they remained. I didn't even budge them. This photo shows where I ground them off:
I was about to grind off the other side, so I picked the thing up, turned it over to inspect and fiddled with it a bit. Then I heard a 'click'!?
Now it was working properly again!! It would latch at the top and remain so. I spent some time cleaning out dirt and lubing the contact points. I was tempted to set the whole thing into a pan of degreaser, but the latch indicator switch, buried in the bottom, I couldn't figure out how to remove. The alarm/remote lock needs this to verify all doors are closed before it'll engage, so I didn't want to risk 'drowning it'.
I then reinstalled it, hooked it all back up, and it worked fine. However, the tailgate was very loose now after removing all the tape from the bar attached to the lower latch.
I'd never needed to adjust this before, so off came the plastic interior covering the door latch. Breaking loose the two large Torx bolts was indeed a challenge. I wound up using a small pipe wrench clamped onto the shaft of the Torx screwdriver. The vice-grips I tried wouldn't hold firmly.
I removed the door latch, cleaned all the dirt out, then slid it all the way aft and retightened. The door didn't have as much play, but it was still loose.
Rather than wrap the metal pin with layers of sticky duct tape as before, I cut a section of blue thick-walled silicone vac hose and used that. Then wrapped it tightly with stretched black electrical tape. This was much better, but a bit loose.
Then I remembered I had on hand some 3M self-adhering silicone electrical wrap. I added a couple layers of it on top of the tape and waited a few minutes for it to adhere to itself.
Upon closing the tailgate, it held firm, tight & quiet. I just saved myself ~ $160 and took the time to clean this area up.
Now I need a way to SECURELY attach the inner tailgate trim panel so it won't rattle. Any ideas?
BTW, I've used silicone grease on plastic-to-plastic trim contacts to quiet noise & squeeking. Caig MCL also works great. I sprayed a quick shot into a film can and used a q-tip to apply where needed. Doesn't take much and very slippery.
A search revealed it's a common problem with the general solution being 'replace the latch', which is ~ $160. I decided to remove it and have a look.
Previously, I'd removed the interior tailgate panel due to rattles. Even the 'fix kit' failed. The lock is held in with three large Torx bolts and is easy to remove.
Here's the visible side of the latch:
The 'gate' refused to latch in the closed position. I pushed it all the way up and it would just slide down. I thought perhaps a spring had broken internally.
Here's the back side with the actuator removed:
After a close-up inspection and fiddling around with the various pieces, I still couldn't understand what was going on. The 'gate' shown in Photo 1 is buried down inside the upper part of photo 2. Very hard to see down in there.
So I resigned myself to grind off the heads of the rivets holding the lower piece together. After taking a punch to the rivet stems to punch them out, they remained. I didn't even budge them. This photo shows where I ground them off:
I was about to grind off the other side, so I picked the thing up, turned it over to inspect and fiddled with it a bit. Then I heard a 'click'!?
Now it was working properly again!! It would latch at the top and remain so. I spent some time cleaning out dirt and lubing the contact points. I was tempted to set the whole thing into a pan of degreaser, but the latch indicator switch, buried in the bottom, I couldn't figure out how to remove. The alarm/remote lock needs this to verify all doors are closed before it'll engage, so I didn't want to risk 'drowning it'.
I then reinstalled it, hooked it all back up, and it worked fine. However, the tailgate was very loose now after removing all the tape from the bar attached to the lower latch.
I'd never needed to adjust this before, so off came the plastic interior covering the door latch. Breaking loose the two large Torx bolts was indeed a challenge. I wound up using a small pipe wrench clamped onto the shaft of the Torx screwdriver. The vice-grips I tried wouldn't hold firmly.
I removed the door latch, cleaned all the dirt out, then slid it all the way aft and retightened. The door didn't have as much play, but it was still loose.
Rather than wrap the metal pin with layers of sticky duct tape as before, I cut a section of blue thick-walled silicone vac hose and used that. Then wrapped it tightly with stretched black electrical tape. This was much better, but a bit loose.
Then I remembered I had on hand some 3M self-adhering silicone electrical wrap. I added a couple layers of it on top of the tape and waited a few minutes for it to adhere to itself.
Upon closing the tailgate, it held firm, tight & quiet. I just saved myself ~ $160 and took the time to clean this area up.
Now I need a way to SECURELY attach the inner tailgate trim panel so it won't rattle. Any ideas?
BTW, I've used silicone grease on plastic-to-plastic trim contacts to quiet noise & squeeking. Caig MCL also works great. I sprayed a quick shot into a film can and used a q-tip to apply where needed. Doesn't take much and very slippery.
