Fixed my tailgate

[Mountaineer]

As some of you know, my tailgate was fubar. I had it locked and it wouldn't open even if I unlocked it. So today I got after her and popped the cover off and unscrewed everything and gave it a look see. It turns out that a plastic guide, that guides the brass latch into position (unlocked position), was broken. This made the brass latch bump into the hooks on the tailgate handle which stopped the latch from moving any further, and prevented me from opening the tailgate.

I had to screw a small piece of metal on the guide to reinforce it so it wouldn't buckle when the latch moved across it. Now it works like it is supposed to.

[demondrive]

good job, ill keep that in mind incase mine goes that way

[lunchindabox]

I think I have the same thing. It feels like it will lock and unlock okay with the key. But to open it, I have to pull the latch about 30 times and it might open, might not. Then I just try another day or throw the crap over the side.

[Mountaineer]

i wouldn't be surprised if that was your problem, the guide rail is just a terribly thin piece of plastic. One of the symptoms was that the tailgate latch would feel stuck like it wouldn't lift up any higher even though it should.

[jaf06se]

I actually had my tailgate on my 04 XE screw up too. I think it was something similar to yours, something came off inside the tailgate.