andy levy <andy-dml@levyclan.us> wrote:
: Opened up my tailgate to check something in the bed tonight before
: leaving work and was that ever a mistake! The tailgate will not latch
: now. I tried slamming it, I tried easing it in, tried everything, no
: dice. Ended up holding it up with a cargo tie-down hooked into the
: handle. So far, it's holding, but I wanna get this thing closing for
: real ASAP.
: It's 5 below right now, and I can't help but think the cold has
: something to do with this. Maybe the rubber bumpers are so stiff that
: they won't compress to let the latch engage? Any ideas on what to do here?
Hi Andy, give this a try...
My '92 Ram's tailgate doesn't close properly because when I
open it, the latches stick open, and before I close it I have
to push them closed. I suspect something similar may have
happened to you, except that in your case, it was brought on
by the cold rather than being a somewhat permanent condition. :-)
I don't know if the GenIII Dak is configured the same or not,
but I just checked out my '01 Ram and the tailgate is basically
the same as the '92, so chances are the Daks are built that way
too. I took a few quick pics for you, see them here:
http://www.jonsteiger.com/www/misc/andy/tailgate1.jpg
http://www.jonsteiger.com/www/misc/andy/tailgate2.jpg
http://www.jonsteiger.com/www/misc/andy/tailgate3.jpg
The green arrows are pointing to a little "nub" which is
in a slot right next to the latch. If I am correct in my
assumption, then these little nubs are probably stuck partially
or fully back (towards the back of the truck). If so, just
push them forward. (They are in the fully forward position in
the pics above.) On my Ram, I just push them forward with my
thumb, but if they are frozen, you might need to try tapping
them with a screwdriver and hammer, or maybe just pouring some
hot water on them. (If you pour water on them, follow it up
with some form of lubricant which will displace water.) There
is one of these on each side; if you only push one forward
the tailgate will latch, but it will only be latched on
one side, so its best to do them both.
Hopefully that's all it is - good luck!
--
-Jon-
.-- Jon Steiger ---- jon@dakota-truck.net or jon@jonsteiger.com --.
| 1970 Barracuda - 1990 Dakota 'vert - 1992 Ram 4x4 - 1996 Dakota |
| 1996 Intruder 1400 - 1996 Kolb FireFly - 2001 Ram QC 3500 CTD |
`------------------------------------ http://www.jonsteiger.com --'
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