No matter how much I fiddle with it, I can't get my truck's tailgate to latch properly. Been like this since I've owned the truck. Tailgate stays in place by friction only. Today I decided to try to fix it.

First thing was to remove all of the latch mechanism bits and lubricate them. That made them work more smoothly, but it didn't do anything for the latching problem (as I expected).

When closed, the inner edge of the tailgate is fully up against the bed side on both sides of the truck, i.e., the top of the tailgate is too far in the forward direction. There are no rubber bumpers installed. It's metal-to-metal contact. The right side is worse (tighter) than the left side. To free up some space, I removed the aftermarket chromed tailgate protector, and that 1/16 in. was enough to get the tailgate to at least latch. I had to adjust the latch pin assemblies on both sides of the tailgate as far in the "toward the bed" direction as they'd go just to get the tailgate to latch at all. Why is it so far forward at the top? From looking at the whole thing, I think inserting some kind of spacers between the striker plates and the bed sides would allow the tailgate to latch in a more proper position, but that would be a "band aid" and not a real fix. It shouldn't need to be jury-rigged. There must be a way to make it work properly. So what am I not understanding here? I keep feeling like I'm missing something obvious that would make me say, "Duh!", once I saw it.







Thanks,
Dean

 

I bet your bed sides are "sprung" or pushed out a little bit, especially on the dvr side. Yes you need rubber bumpers # 44482. And yes I bet you are going to have to spacer (move in wards a bit somehow) #431B54. Or drill the holes (that the large phillips head screws # 382241-S that they mount with and strip out very easy) a little bigger and see if you can adjust them in towards the tailgate latches. If you get it stuck, here is how to open it.

I had the same problem on a old truck and still wanted the tailgate edge protection, so I cut off the corner right where your arrows are. I cut enough to clear the edges of the bed.

 

A picture of your actual latches as they are extended out of the tailgate ends might help too.

Are the beveled latch bolts extending out as they should is my question. I'm thinking might be the latch itself where you pull the handle is maybe somehow preventing the rods to relax fully. Both rods are pulled by the same part as you pull the handle.

 

The mechanism is all in good shape, lubricated, and seems to work smoothly. The latch pins do fully extend on both sides. Once the pins are able to get into the cutouts on the latch plates (431854 in the diagram), they lock in just fine. The problem is getting the tailgate in far enough for that to happen.

 

Here are some more photos. The truck is very original and correct. It has never been wrecked or abused and all of the sheet metal is factory-original.

The panel gap between the tailgate and the bed sides is very consistent, almost show car grade. However, the tailgate definitely sits lower than it should on both sides. You can see that the top of the tailgate does not align with the top of the bed side, and the trim pieces don't line up with those on the body. This can be seen on both sides of the truck, but it's worse on the left side.




Look how much lower the tailgate sits:




The tailgate also sticks out just a bit at the bottom. Worse on the right side. This appears to be an adjustment issue with the tailgate hinges???




Here are photos of the fore-aft gap between the tailgate and the bed sides (right side shown first). You can see that the gap is wider at the bottom than at the top. Actually, there really is no gap at the top.




I am wondering if adjustment could be made to the position of the tailgate hinges? I believe the bolt holes in the hinge mounting plates are slotted to allow slight adjustment, just as the latch pin assemblies' are.

Cheers,
Dean

 

I took a Dremel and gently massaged the pieces with the holes that the pins latch into.

You might loosen the two bolts that bolt the hinges to the bed, and see if they slide up ... raising the tailgate a little bit. Might be the pins are not engaging because they are too low for the square holes? Tailgate open to access top ones, but closed and a long extension with a wobble end to get to the lower ones.

 

Yes time to see if you can adjust the hinge brackets #43018 to raise the tailgate a bit.