So the driver side of my tailgate sticks out pretty good so I brought it to the attention of my dealer, so they took it to the body shop to get the tailgate aligned. Apparently they said it wasnt a big deal and wouldn't take long to fix. Well after they had it only a few mins the tech advised me the passenger side of the bed was mis-welded from the factory. He says because of that it cannot be adjusted flush with the bed. My dealer is now notifying Ford, I guess we will set what there plan to fix it is. The dealer said the only way to fix it is with a new bed side. He also told me he had seen several trucks like it that were made before they adjusted the robots for the issue. So I'm waiting to see what ford will do.

Anyone else have this issue, or get it fixed?

On a side note one of my harley tails has condensation in it, and the other is foggy with two hair line cracks in it, not sure how that happened. I ordered those from tasca bank in january.

 

Was your truck built at Dearborn or Kansas City?

The right side of my tailgate stuck out a bit but I was able to adjust the latch. Mine was built at KCAP.

 

I think its the kansas city plant, I know my wifes escape is, and we bought our vehicles the same time from the same dealer.

And they were trying to adjust the latch, but I guess they didnt have enough ajustability in it to work. And I can see where theres more room in the sheet metal on one side then the other, but its only.maybe 1/8th inch difference.

 

You know Ruff, sometimes people try to adjust tailgate wrong, and not all trim guys at dealers know it. In some cases, you actually need to adjust the latch pin outwards to get the latch to grab it properly. In theory, only the left side is closing properly, and the right wouldn't be fully latched, because the pin is in too far. If you have a properly sized Torx Socket, there is no harm in playing with it. Pull the pins out all together, and see if you can get it to fit properly with just hand pressure. I wouldn't want new box sides if the problem lies in a basic adjustment.

 

The tech seemed to know what he was talking about, even showed and explained it to me. He said he tried taking the pin out completely and held it close, but still wasnt flush. And I too, am a little weary about needing a new bed all together, or doing what the tech said, which was undoing the welds and re-welding it.

 

If you have any choice in the matter, choose the new bed. Box assemblies are dipped at the factory, and the corrosion protection gets into the nooks and crannies. If you have to go the re-weld route, ask for (and get) WRITTEN lifetime corrosion warranty on the area they fix. Not just fords warranty period, but lifetime from the shop.

 

Thanks, il keep that in mind. Apparently the two people who have to review and decide this are off today and tomorow, so no decision yet.

 

X2 on this one, and good luck. I used to run a painting operation for a fairly large company and we used to do Electrodeposition priming - which some people call dipping. (It's actually a lot more than that.) The big difference with E-Coat is corrosion resistance. You just can't duplicate it with any process done in a collision shop. This means no matter how nice the paint looks, it just cannot match the factory performance.

If you're not going to own your truck for a long time - which they're betting on - it'll just be somebody else's problem. If you are planning on keeping it, get a new box.

 

Not too happy with Ford right now. Seems like they are just procrastinating, not wanting to pay for a new bed. Since my previous post they wanted to "try some other things to adjust the tailgate", which I brought it back in for. Then they wanted me to bring it back in to take some measurements. Next was putting a different tailgate on my truck and see if it thats the issue. NOW Ford wants to take out the bed bolts to see if the bed will "settle". Really! And because of that they just called me to say that I have a bedrug and that needs to come out to get to the bolts, and they have no where to store it but outside. Um no. And I can't just go pick it up since you have my truck. Which brings me to my second issue about a rental or another vehicle to drive while they keep going back and forth with ford experimenting with my truck. She told me they dont give out vehicles for that. I had to remind her I purchased a 6 year extended warranty and according to that I am supposed to get a vehicle after my truck has been in the shop for a certain period of time. She had to call someone else, who she said was busy at the moment and would call me tomorow about a vehicle to drive. I almost want to say forget it, just leave it the way it is, but thats probably what they would want.

 

I thought you were "roughing it"?

Get some pics.

 

This wasnt taken to show the gap, but you can still kinda see it in this picture.

 

Guess what, taking out the bed bolts and letting it settle didn't work...shocker! Finally Ford says they are going to replace the whole passenger side bed side. Guess I'm going to have to take off my bed cover and get new velcro to attach my bedbug to the new bed side. But my main question is if a new bedside will have any negative affects on the truck; easily able to rust, not as strong, etc. they are not fixing the current bed side but replacing the bed side with a new one.

Edit to add: takes to the tech, he said the bed side will come from the factory with a corrosion inhibitor and be painted st the body shop. He said there won't be any problems regards to corrosion.

 

Yes, the factory panel will have been E-Coated at the factory and that's the same primer your truck got at the factory. Then they added the base and clear coats for further protection and cosmetics. Here's where it gets interesting though. To attach that new panel, they'll have to cut out the old one, then weld the new one in. To make good welds, you need to grind off the E-Coat primer on the new panel and everything on the old ones where they want to weld. Then they'll solvent wipe and spray prime, then paint your new panel. Want to guess what the corrosion resistance of that kind of painting process is as compared to factory paint? Not even close. I guarantee it. Ask the Body Shop manager if he can guarantee that the repainted surfaces meet ALL factory specifications for adhesion, gloss, corrosion resistance, thickness, surface preparation, etc. He simply cannot guarantee it.

 

It the tailgate closes and latches and this is a comestic issue only, I would just let it be --unless you plan on selling the truck within the next couple of years.

 

Totally agree. I would not mess with it. Get it "adjusted" as close as possible but I would not have them replace the bedside, it will rust guaranteed. Like pig9r said, if only plan to keep it for a couple years then go for it, but if you plan on running it into the ground don't do it.