How do you fix a tailgate on 1993 Chevrolet C1500 pickup truck that won't stay shut?

Answer 1

try WD-40

You can take off the bot that holds on the tailgate straps and the bolts that hold on the latch mechanisms on either side. My 93 were star bolts. I believe they were a "40". I just did this fix. Once you have those parts loose, take loose the star bolts that hold the handle on. These are on the inside of the tailgate. You can carefully unclip the plastic pieces that hold on the pull rods for the latches. Once you have those off you can pull the latch pieces out of either side and take out the handle. Most likely you will have a seized handle. They rust and stop working. You can either use some penetrating lube and work the handle like the dickens and work it loose or you could drill out the center rivet and replace it with a bolt. This can be tricky and you "should" use a vice to hold the handle. I did it by pinning it against the ground with my foot but I have done a couple of these. Also you want to be careful doing this not to drill with too big of a drill bit. Start small and increase in size until the rivet comes out. When you replace the rivet with a bolt, you need to be careful not to tighten the nut down. This will just compress the handle parts and it will defeat the purpose. It would be best to get a bolt with a non-threaded section. Drawing a blank on what the name of the bolt is but basically has no threads near the head of the bolt. You don't want too much non-threaded space though because your handle will be sloppy and wear out. You don't want a bolt that's too long to put the handle back in as well. You can take up a little slack, if there is a little too much non-threaded area if you use a couple of standard washers. I found a bolt that fit perfect with two small washers and I could tighten the nut down all the way against the non-threaded section and had almost unnoticeable play in the handle components. Then you can run a second nut down against the original and wrench the two nuts tight together. You will be sure that the nut won't work loose after years of use. Then put everything back together, careful not to break the plastic clips that hold the latch rods to the handle. If your problem is in the latches themselves, I don't have a great answer for that. You could try spacing the spring a little bit to put more pressure on the latch so it actually springs the latch shut. I have had three of these trucks and each time the failure was in the handle mechanism. Handle is $35 at autozone if you just wanted to go that route. Take it apart first and make sure that's actually the problem though. Important note, not expensive but try not to break the ears off of the handle bezel. It's the plastic part that goes around the tailgate handle on the outside of the tailgate. You have to flex it carefully until the plastic ears unclip off of the inside of the outside skin of the tailgate. Good luck and enjoy a working tailgate. I just fixed mine not three weeks ago. It took me about an hour and a half and most of that was digging through my nuts and bolts to find the proper fit. Works perfectly now.