andy levy 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?
The nubs that Jon pointed out were fully forward. I did, however,
scrape some Line-X off them while fiddling with them. The latches seem
to work just fine (if a little slow) when I operate them manually, and
also when I watch while closing the gate up. They just aren't catching.
Last night all I had tried were slamming the gate and closing it gently.
Today, I got it up into position and then pressed on the tailgate
right where the latches are. Right side first - and it clicked! The
left side I couldn't get a click out of - maybe it caught when the right
side did, maybe it won't catch at all. Dunno. But it is staying closed
and seems secure enough.
When I got my Line-X done, we had a similar problem. Ultimately the
Line-X installer had to use a much thinner coat than he wanted - there
just wasn't a large enough tolerance between the tailgate and the bed.
I wonder if the cold has messed with the tolerances again.
I'll see about stopping at the dealer on Tuesday morning (next cold day)
to see if they can take a look at it.
-- -andyhttp://home.twcny.rr.com/andylevy/dakota - andy-dml@levyclan.us -------------------------------------------- "Whatever Adam does, do the opposite and you'll be fine" -Bob Tom --------------------------------------------
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