Hi all,

I recently bought an '02 X and noticed before I finalized everything that the rear hatch was misaligned. I suspected body damage at first, but did a thorough investigation and was pretty confident that there was no major damage, if any.

The bolts the connect the hatch to the hinges had been loosened or removed, as had the bolts that hold the RH hinge to the body. The LH hinge/body bolts had not been disturbed.

At that point, I suspected maybe a glass replacement...

So, I just tried to realign the hatch and I found that the RH hinge was bent, but not badly. I tried to emulate the LH hinge as closely as possible and resolved to replace the hinge.

The hatch is also too far to the right. As far as I can tell, the hatch is shifted left as far as it can go on the hinges and there is no left-right adjustment on the body side of the hinge. I don't think the hinge replacement will fix the left-right misalignment.

There's no way this is the way it's supposed to be.

Anyone have any experince with the alignment of the hatch? Are they off-center as a rule? Is there left-right adjustment in the hinge at the body?

Thanks,

Chris

 

There is a TSB about the rear hatch on the X rubbing on the lower doors...
Not long after getting my '02 7.3L I noticed scuffing on the upper ledge of the lower doors...
The dealerships solution was to put some mylar??? sheets on top and paint to match so it would at least rub there ?!?! Not a solution to me, but that's what they did along with realigning the doors...

On neither of my X's did I find the rubber bumpers I've seen on some... but even getting these, I hear they are easily lost, so I guess I should get a lot of spares...