Backed up into a bush and it seems it was a little bit more stout than expected. There was a large branch that pushed my tailgate latch so far up now it's stuck. If you look at the pics below, there's a tab on the right hand side that was over extended and now stuck/holding the handle up.

I'm a little reluctant to just try hitting it as hard as i can out of fear that I'll snap something.

Any suggestions?

 

Open the inspection plate on the inside of the tailgate. You can access everything from there.

 

How much pressure have you applied to it? Push on it and watch it to see what the plastics reaction is and it may just go back for you pretty easy.

 

The picture of the handle on the right side shows the "stop" on the wrong side of the plate you need to push that stop back in.Someone pulled to hard on the handle. Push the stop back in place, don't just push on the handle.

Donovan

 

Agree with what the picture shows...
If it were mine, I would use a drift and small hammer.
Place the drift on the "stop" on the right side and tap it with the hammer. It should pop that stop back to the inside..

 

Randy, I think you are spot on. I had that happen on my 2000 and that was the fix.