bbarggren

All....

I am having some trouble with the tailgate latch on my runner. I looked around at the posts on here for these latches, but didn't find anything that matches what I'm seeing. The tailgate will open and close just fine, but when you open it, the latch doesn't "return" to it's starting position. I think there is a spring in there that should do this, and it must be broken or out of position. If you manually pull the latch back into position, it closes fine and no problems. I'd ignore it, but this vehicle is mom's kid carrier, and our preferred vehicle for weekend adventures, so we use that tailgate a LOT.

Has anyone fixed this problem before? Can I just replace the spring, or do I need to do the whole latch assembly? Tech write-ups? Pics??

THANK YOU

kmchby76

Same problem here. I will look into mine next weekend. Anyone who has done this, can you give some advise?

sharrack

Sounds like a spring broke inside or theres just no lube on the mechanism.
there may be an access panel behind the rear plastic door panel where you
check things out. No worries.....I'll bet the spring is connected to a part that cost 500 bucks or so............lol!

******TIP - remove those annoying black filters on the bottom of your 3rd gen tailgates!! All they do is trap dirt and moisture and dirt will cake up on the internal parts of the window.
Remove them............and start flushing the window with water from the weatherstripping.......you'll be amazed at the endless sediment that flows out of the holes.
More for the offroaders ..........Kenny S>

HuskyRunner

I'm having the same problem, and I was hoping I could convince the body shop it was the result of a recent accident, so they'd fix it. No luck though. What did find out was the latch piece is rubber coated, and mine is all shredded, and is causing the latch to jam. I'm going to be taking mine apart next weekend to try and free it up, because a new one is $180 cdn. A little pricey! If that doesn't work, I'll try and find one on here used and see if that's an improvement. It is really annoying to have to mess with it every time I open it, because I'm got two dogs that are in and out of the truck all the time.

sharrack

Holy cow.......I was only joking about the 500 bucks but 180 is insane!
Now I undersatnd the term "stealer".
whew!

Skrillah

I had the problem, but wd-40 fixed it. I sprayed it and worked the mechanism at the same time and haven't had a problem since.

kmchby76

Sounds good. I'll give it a shot this weekend.

HuskyRunner

Alright, so...I just bought a latch - not the $180 new one though. $20 from a member here. Time to find a few hours to muck with it, and a bucket full of patience, and maybe I'll be able to close my tailgate without a hassle!

sharrack

I had a similar problem with mine where the mechanism was just dry.
A shot with WD40 or white lube did the trick.
Also........sometimes my rear hatch will not unlock with the key clicker so lubed the reciever hook latch an reset the adjuster and everything was fine.

bbarggren

I wish the "dub-dee" would fix mine. I have sprayed a LOT of WD-40 in there with no changes. I'm fairly sure that the return spring is broken. I'm VERY interested to see if anyone has been able to replace just the spring.

arjan

Mine has been like that for a couple of years too. The spring is actually in the handle, but wd40 won't do the trick.
It looks like quite a bit of work to take it all apart, unless there is a simple way.
It looked to me that the plastic trim needs to be accessed from inside the door.

HuskyRunner

So I fixed it! Mine has been acting up for about 6 months and no amount of WD 40 would make a lasting improvement. At first I had to close it a little harder than normal, then really hard, then the latch wouldn't catch at all. What I found out is that the piece that actually closes around the striker is rubber coated, and over time that rubber can get pretty mangled - pics later. The rubber then gums it up enough that the latch can't move freely, therefore it doesn't return to fully open, and when you close it the next time BANG! it just slams into the striker. The latch also houses the switch for the power lock, so it can get bad enough that the truck thinks the tailgate is always open, messing up alarms and causing the interior and door open lights to stay on.

This is a close up of my old latch, showing the shredded rubber coating. This is also as far as it would open on it's own.

I replaced it with this


It was really easy, and took about 15 minutes. All you have to do is pop off the bolt cover where the pull attaches, unbolt the pull, pop off the interior panel (starting at one corner, gently pry the cover away from the tailgate and work your way around) You'll the see a large centre panel held on by 8 bolts and three clips. Unbolt it, and pull gently on the clips (You only need to pull the clips out of one side, and the other will slide out) You'll now be able to see how much crap has collected in your tailgate over the years! Now just unbolt the latch from the bottom and follow the cable up to the plug, unplug it, detach the cable, and remove.


Replace with a new one, and reverse the process. Some people have wondered if they could replace just the return spring, and unfortunately you can't. The latch is a sealed unit, and will not easily come apart. Any questions, ask away. Oh, and every bolt you have to remove is 10mm.

DeathCougar

iTrader: (23)

Glad to see that it worked out for ya! That part looks much better than your old one lol. Good ol canadian rust.

HuskyRunner

Yeah, worked out perfectly! Only thing is now I keep slamming my tailgate unnecessarily!

arjan

That part isn't the problem with mine, it's the handle not returning after being pressed in.
I had it apart inside the door, just the handle is in the license plate frame. I wish mine was that simple, I actually have a spare of the part shown in the pic.

bbarggren

I am so idnorant!!! STOOPID STOOPID STOOPID !!!!!!!



Thanks to everyone for your input, but I apparently gave up on the WD a bit too early the first time. I decided the other day to attack my tailgate with HUGE quantities of WD in every place where I could spray it. I made a giant mess, and suddenly heard a "click" from inside my tailgate latch. Works like a dream now.

This is just further proof that any handyman worth his salt needs nothing more than duct tape and WD-40 to fix any problem.

Huntbridgex

I need to replace my latch as well for my rear hatch...anyone parting out? 98 4Runner..thanks

934rnr

This is an old issue but mine won't even open up.
I have the whole back of my 4 runner hatch panel opened up but I can't open my hatch to remove this thing. I have pulled on the cable tryed bending it nothing it still won't release.
If anyone knows of any tricks feel free to let me know.

nees1212

If you've got it open, just push down on the piece that connects the cable to the latch at the bottom of the hatch. It will open right up. I just had the same issue, but now I'm finding mine is a bigger issue.

934rnr

I'll try it again but no pushing down or anything has made this thing open up.
It's like it rust welded together. I hope I don't have to take more forceful measures to open it.