Greetings.

After decades of beating on an unnamed other truck brand (with a bowtie insignia) with an EXTERNAL tailgate latching mechanism, I entered the blue oval world about three years ago. The other day, I hauled for the first time in this truck ('92 F350) some 1/2" gravel, taking my usual amount of care (which is to say, none at all) pushing/raking/sweeping the gravel out across the lowered tailgate. Doing so, I managed to get a fair amount of gravel into the latching mechanism. Due to an unfortunate turn of events, the tailgate was slammed shut before all of the gravel was picked out of the latch. That trapped gravel is now preventing not one, but BOTH sides from unlatching, no matter how much force is applied.

I am mechanically inclined enough to know the proper end of a screwdriver upon which to pound. I already have the inner panel off to apply the maximum amount of force directly to the latch ends of the rods, all to no avail. I have effectively filled the area around the latching mechanism with incompressible rock. I see no way to release the rock bits from their imprisonment, nor to manhandle the tailgate open so as to pick the gravel out (as should have been done originally).

If we eliminate from contention the option of designing and building a time machine to travel back in time and clear the debris BEFORE slamming the tailgate shut, I see as the only viable option the destruction and replacement of the tailgate.

I welcome any ideas, and will tolerate any ridicule you might choose to share.

 

So there's no way you can pull the rods hard enough towards the handle?

 

try tapping the ends with a small hammer......A question, is the gravel in the LATCH or in behind the inner panel?

 

can you see the gravel itself, if you can you can go get 1/8 inch masonry drill bit and try to break it in between the latch, it might take a while but at the least maybe you'll loosen the rock from the latch giving you room to open it... that's somenthing I wuld try before i would move to a bigger hammer and greater force to solve the problem

 

well thats better than my idea mine was going to involve a tow strap and a big a$$ tree... if you see were im going with this. yet again just going from memory but i think if you remove the tail lights you can unbolt the latch from the truck this would atleast allow you to drop the tail gate.

 

That would be easy but not only are there 2 screws on the outside of each, theres two inside as well you access by putting the gate down.

 

ah thats right like i said speaking from memory here dont realy have asses to my truck so sorry.

 

I just fixed my tail gate yesterday. Get the rocks out of the side latches and once its free of offending rocks, you will see a tab that the rod lever will push up on, that will release the catch of the latch. I had a hell of time by my self, a 2nd person pulling on the tail gate while you are fumbling the side latch will help. At least you have gravel, try getting rid of concrete.....

 

Thanks to everyone who took the time to reply.

Pulling REAL HARD had already been tried, with no satisfactory result.

Tapping, pounding, and using harsh language helped not, because the trapped gravel had nowhere to go. It had already settled to the bottom of the latch, which thanks to brilliant design, is fully enclosed. And yes, the gravel was in the latch proper, not merely behind the access panel.

Due to the fully enclosed design of the latch, no masonry bit (or bit of any other flavor) could reach where the gravel was.

I had not yet resorted to anything like the LARGE TREE method, although my thoughts were more in the flavor of a sawzall to bisect the tailgate down the middle, and remove the resulting two halves (more on this later).

Yes, removing the taillights is a bit of a Catch-22, as 50% of the screws are accessed from an area blocked by the tailgate. Sacrificing one or both taillights would only marginally increase the access (as compared to going down the stake hole). At best, one would get at the threaded end of the striker bolt, leaving a short list of destructive options, and perhaps painstakingly unthreading the striker bolt with vice grips. I didn't go there.

Thanks for the anecdote of the concrete. I don't wish to insult by ranking the stupidity of filling the latch with concrete versus doing the same with 1/2" gravel...

My tailgate is still in one piece, and is now down!

The cosmetics of the bed have suffered a bit, so there goes my chances for a trophy at the next F350 dually truck show I enter. While thinking about the sawzall method, I visualized how I would STILL have to get the latch inboard past the enlarged head of the striker bolts. I instead decided to pry (with great leverage) OUTWARD on the bed, and pop the striker bolts out from the latch that direction. This worked, albeit with some damage to the latches (fixed by careful application of a BFH), and some cosmetic damage (that I'll get over).

I think that even my feeble mind will remember this escapade, and use it as motivation to check and clean the latch religiously each time before slamming it shut.

What a lame latch design.

Thanks again for all the replies.

 

Those side latches were not the best design when somthing gets stuck inside. At least you got it open! As for my concrete episode, my friend needed to borrow my truck to get some concrete(I though he was getting bags of it), no the sob POURED wet mix into my bed!!! At least I had a full bed liner execpt for the tail gate. Had to cut the tail gate off with a torch. He produced a almost new tail gate pretty fast too!

 

Next time, keep a roll of duct tape with you. Slap a couple pieces over the latches with the tailgate down before you start unloading the gravel. Or, just take your tailgate off before you unload. As a last resort, take your tailgate off and turn it upside down (flat) before you close it to dump the debris out of the latches.

The last time I had a jammed tailgate, it was due to a lot of plywood in the bed that had shifted against the tailgate. I was considering taking a carborundum saw to the latches through the gap between the tailgate and the taillights...

Jason

 

<slaps forehead="">=======> slaps forehead and goes DUH.

I had been thinking about wadded up rags, tarps, etc.

THIS is the sort of idea that makes one slap their forehead.

Thanks!</slaps>

 

Do you still call him a friend???

 

White 97, that was over 18 years ago, lost track of him about 10 years. Thats why I got a new tail gate, he knew I will have revenge on him and he fully knows what I am capiable of doing! At least he did not over load my truck, only had 4" from what the bed liner showed, tail gate down..... you know the outcome.