tailgate hard to open

[chrism9232]

my tailgate is real hard to open. i have to push in on the tailgate and pull the handle to get it to open. one time i was at the carwash and i sprayed the latch and hinges out real good and the tailgate worked good for about 6 months. i tried spraying it out today it did not work any ideas?

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[ChrisT]

Something similar happened to my truck. I had to lift way up on the handle to get it to open and eventually it busted all together from me wrenching up on it. I ended up taking it in to Ford and they put a whole new latch\handle assembly on it. It was damn expensive from what I remember, kinda wished I had done it myself as I think most of the cost was labor.

[blackedoutV6]

i had this problem awhile back

i took the panel off the inside of the tailgate and tightened up the two rods that open the switch and now i can open my tailgate with my pinky finger!

[dixieboy2003]

I had the same thing happen to my truck awhile back to I had sprayed wd40 on the rods

[TexasRaider]

This is VERY common among all Ford's. I had an F250 and I was the only person who could open it, had to simply push while pulling! Anyway, could be a number of things, I just know you will see this more with Ford's than any other truck, especially if not on level ground. Not sure if mine was the rods and what not, or the fact that I had rolled many barrels of oil accross the tailgate.

Anyway, good luck!

[fairlaner]

I sprayed the latches at each side of the tailgate w/ oil when mine got hard to open/close. I closed it in front of my Chevy-driving friend the other day and he was amazed how light a touch it takes to latch the tailgate (no slamming the gate required).

[chrism9232]

Originally Posted by dixieboy2003

I had the same thing happen to my truck awhile back to I had sprayed wd40 on the rods

that is what i did and it fixed it