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I replaced my tailgate with a used one. Today in a storm. My bedcover blew off. I had to use a pair of pliers to pull the tailgate latch open.Because my cables are broke. The tailgate shifted when i slammed it shut. The hinge on the drivers side was about 3/4 inch off. Now the tailgate is stuck. On top of that the bed cover is locked. One side of the tailgate is flush. The other side haa a 1/2 in gap. When it shut the hinges mounted to the bed were so far off that I cant even wiggle the tailgate left or righr. Photos to come. That should be inside the tailgate latch. Its outside. What a day.
Dang gotta hate that. You do not have cable in there, you have latch rods. Are they broke or did they just come out of their connection points? The plastic retainer usually breaks on the handle connection side, and the rod falls out. Go fishing in there (handle hole) with a magnet or a piece of wire and see if you can get the rod lifted back up and connected. Really if you can, you need to get the bed cover open, get in there and use a flat tip screwdriver and pop the one latch that is working. And then maybe get the other side to let go.
78&79 f250 I like how you laid the latch setup on the outside of the gate to show how it is made. Will be very helpful for people who don’t know to understand.
Well at least I hope it helps someone. 431C56 is the plastic retainer, you can see the PO of this parts tailgate made his own out a piece of aluminium and some RTV to hold it on. Like I said, use some wire (old thin coat hanger) and fish around for the rod. Good luck.
