Have a 2018 supercrew XLT. Just installed husky rear wheel liners today, real easy. Then moved on to the ford tailgate assist. Watched videos, unplug camera cable, remove support cables, then remove tailgate. Sounds easy until the remove tailgate part. Lift up on the angle to release the passenger side pull out and away from driver side, except driver side will not come out. Is it difference due to the tailgate step? Or is 2018 different than the earlier 2015+ install videos I watched. Or do I need to grow a set and pull like a bastard to make it let go.

 

It is no different than any other tailgate. You have to get the angle right and pull.

Just be cautious you don't sit it down on it's corner as it will chip the paint.

When I take mine off, I bring it in my house and put it in a room that doesn't get messed with. I don't want to have to get mine repainted again...

 

Make sure there is not a lock on it. My dealer installed one so it would not be stolen while on the sales lot, then failed to remove it. It looks sort of like a hose clamp and keeps the gate from being lifted out of the slot.

 

I think the problem is what ManualF150 was talking about. When I removed my tailgate, it took some "fiddling" to find the correct angle to pull the pin out of the driver's side. I may be wrong, but I think it may have to be more towards the vertical than the horizontal.

Whichever, my tailgate was HEAVY! Much heavier than the one in my old 2005 KR. Wear gloves to help protect your hands. I smashed my finger removing mine.

- Jack

 

 

If you have the tailgate step, the process is different. It's really pretty easy, but if you don't know about it, it'd be easy to mess up reinstallation and/or hard to get off to begin with.

1) Get a friend to help you.... it's heavy.
2) Open the tail gate and put it at 45 degrees and pull out the right-hand side hinge (normal removal method), then raise the tailgate to about 5 degrees from closing and you will be able to pull out the left side.
3) In reassembly, Put the left side of the tailgate back in, but NOT with the gate at 45 degrees. Instead raise it up again to within 5 degrees of closing and slide in the left side and slide it in.
4) Now pull it back down to 45 degrees to get the right-hand side back in.

The reason is that the step tailgates have a torsion spring to help with lifting them. Regular tailgates don't, because they weigh like 1/2.