My tailgate opens hard. I have to lift the handle till it feels like its going to break to get the gate to release. What adjustments can I make. I'm guessing there is some kind of rod inside the gate that I can shorten up.
Thanks.

 

Maybe you need to give a good lubrication. I know in the past with all makes that I have owned or driven for work that they need a good shot of lub. every now and again. Try lubing the latches and if you can get some in the center of the gate as well.

 

Could be that the catch is aligned too deep, (extra pressure when trying to get it opened?)

You can move it around a bit and see if the effort changes. A good lube is a good idea as already stated.

 

try lubing the latches on either side.

to lube the center, just put a sock or rag over one or two slot screwdrivers and pry the plastic piece off (not the movable handle itself, the OTHER piece). if you just pry from the bottom (up & out), it should just pop right out. once it is out, inspect the mechanism and look for the plastic rod clips to see if they are stressing/cracked. if they are, you might as well just disassemble the whole thing and replace them.

i did this whole procedure a while ago, due to the rod clips being broken. the hardest part was tracking down those **** clips! once i had them though, from start to finish with disassembly, cleaning, lubing, & reassembly was probably 1 hour. its an easy job if you have torex bits.

hth
jason

 

Lube the latches and pull the plastic around the handle and lube the linkage inside the tailgate as well.

 

Lube or one day you will not be able to get open. Talk about a PIA.

 

I moved the catches that the tailgate actually closes to on either side of the bed and now it works alot better.

 

Where did you get the plastic rod clips? Got numbers?