Tonight I had nothing better to do, so I went out there and started messing with my tailgate latch.



The striker pin on the passenger side was only sticking out of the gate maybe 1/2 to 2/3rds of its length, and the driver side striker was sticking out really far. To close the gate, I would have to lift the handle and then give the gate a good shove for it to close, and then it only latched on the driver side.
So I went exploring, and removed the three bolts holding the latch handle assembly. The first thing I noticed was that the bolts were binding against the holes in the tail gate sheet metal. It must've taken some real work on the part of whoever was the last person to install that latch assembly, in order to get all three of those bolts started!
I grabbed my drill and used it to oblong the bolt holes toward the passenger side. Then I pulled the latch handle down out of the gate, and sprayed some generic spray lube on its pivot points. I also sprayed down both of the striker assemblies.
Then I put the bolts back in the latch assembly and tightened it down, and noticed that the passenger side striker was sticking out about as far as the driver side one.
I went ahead and closed the gate, but it still took a little more effort than normal. The driver side locked in as normal but the passenger side wouldn't latch unless I pushed on the gate and lifted it slightly. Then I remembered that I'd noticed that the tailgate hinge brackets were loose.
So I put the spray lube can on the step bumper and used it to prop up the tailgate so that the body lines matched up closer, and then I tightened down the lower bolts to the hinge brackets. I then lowered the gate and tightened down the upper bolts on the brackets.

This time I lifted the gate and it swung right into the closed position with barely any resistance, though I still had to lift the latch handle. The passenger side didn't latch that time, but I had to push just slightly on the gate to get it to lock in the striker.
I loosened the passenger side striker assembly and moved it to where it would lock in sooner and tightened the bolts. When I closed the gate, I still had to give it a small push to lock in the passenger side, so I used a pry-bar and gently bent the eye bracket (where the striker passes through) so that it would lock in sooner.

And this time I simply swung the gate closed while lifting the latch handle, and it went right into place with both sides locked in!

You can see how far I had to hog the holes before the latch assembly would line up with all three of the bolt holes without the bolts binding up. The holes looked like they had been drilled too far to the left, and the original left side edges of the holes stick out past the bolt heads:


I should've taken some better pictures, but it was getting dark and I was sweating like a turkey in late October...

So you're supposed to have to lift the latch handle to close these tail gates, right? Or should it just push closed and lock in without lifting the latch handle?

 

Right now mine only closes when grabbing the handle. Don't ask me how many people have sat there slamming my tailgate up and down before they figured it out...

 

Nice write up, on both truck I lift the handle to open and lift the handle to close. On my silver truck the handle stays pulled out on it own. Once I close the TG I have to push the handle back in. I am the only one to open and close my tailgates. That is to prevent people from yanking the handle to open it and slamming it against the outer latches tying to close it. Everyone thinks they are like new trucks.

If you need to lift on one side to close it, to maybe help you can glue a thin piece of rubber (like an old piece if bike inner tube) around the bolt on pivot point to raise it a bit.

 

my latch on right side ( passenger side) sticks. even if i lift the handle it sticks out
making it impossible to open the gate. sometimes it works on hotter days. I need
to remove them and lube them up. Maybe get new ones. i hope a good cleaning will
do the trick. seems like gravel got in there. feels ruff when pressing it in and out.

 

Is the latch rod ends not quite bent enough? The only way to shorten it is to bend a tighter curve on one end or the other.

Yes that is a home made rod retainer on the bottom one.


How I get my TG open when it sticks.

 

Rich, is it pretty straight fwd on pulling all of that out and re-installing? One of my rods came off the latch. I need to re-attach and re-install.

 

It is, but best to remove it from the truck, that way you can flip is upside down and reach the rods when they fall out when trying to hook back up on the middle handle. And or put it on its end to make the rod hang straight down. And or have a piece of wire/string tied on to it, to pull is back up. And get new yellow flip down lock pieces (431C56) for the rods. Also make sure your nut plate (for the end pieces) are not broke off. Here is how you fold the hinges to get them off. And yes the tailgate is NOT like new trucks that go at a angle and then you slip them off. You have to unbolt the end pieces (43018). But you can mod your TG piece so that is can be that way.

 

Excellent pictures! I would've liked to see them before I messed with mine last night. My tailgate got stuck closed when I was working on it, but I just unbolted the latch, and was able to get it to open.

I had a '94 F150 for a few weeks, years ago, and I never did get its tailgate open...

 

When it is latched shut and a rod comes out the center handle and falls to the bottom of the tailgate. Take a metal coat hanger and go fishing thru the handle hole and lift it back up and put it back in place.

If it breaks or comes out the latch end, the flat tip screwdriver it the only way.

 

Maybe you can spread the bedside/quarter away from the tailgate, exposing those 382541-S screws which secure the eye-brackets to the bed corners, and drive them out.

My passenger side bedside leans out a little at the top...



What the heck do you even use to drive those screws anyway?





So I messed with it all some more today, and got my tailgate lined up with the bed corners using the style line around the taillights as a guide. Then I did a little more adjusting and got the strikers closer to equal lengths sticking out of the tailgate, and tweaked the eye-brackets a little, and now the gate swings up and into the closed position with zero resistance - with the latch handle pulled out of course. And when I release the latch, both strikers are engaged in the eye-brackets. Only the latch handle assembly makes any kind of obvious noise.
The eye brackets no longer drag against the tailgate sheet metal, or those bridge-looking things which stick out of the striker assemblies.

So I gather that the tailgates on these trucks were never meant to be simply pushed closed and locked in, without pulling the latch handle.
That got me to wondering about the bevel on the strikers, but I guess those bevels are there so that in case the strikers don't retract enough, and drag on the eye-brackets, that you can still get the gate closed and latched.

 

All my gates over the years required the handle to be pulled when closing.

I too don’t let ppl open or close my gate unless they are an old school type of person.

 

I don't have to lift the handle to close my gate, and it latches on both sides

I don't know what's wrong with your guys gates.

I can close move no problem no lifting of handle required. Just close the gate and give it a shove.

 

Sometimes it's not the years, but the miles. Or....

Or the bed gets tweaked a bit.

Even Bronco tailgates can stick every so often. I too this day can not get that one to open.

Some times it is downward pressure at an odd angle.

 

all those bent up trucks look like tinfoil

 

Oh you do NOT want me to make a new thread with all the wrecked 73-79 truck pics I have. Make a grown Ford truck man cry.