i have a 2003 4 door with the fold up window and the fold down tail gate,and i opened up the tailgate to put the latch on for the spare tire carrier on and ever since then i have to press the outside hatch button once to open up the window like normal, but then i have to press it again and pull the inside handle to lower the tailgate, and if i wait to long i have to repress the button its almost like a safety lock. so i was wondering if i bent a rod in there or what? thanks for your help in advance.

 

Anything? After 8 months of waiting?

 

I'm about to put my spare tire carrier on my 96 tomorrow. I have the fold down style tailgate too. Does the spare tire swing gate do okay on our fold down tailgates? When I do it tomorrow, I'll look for what you are talking about and report back to ya man.

 

Alright thanks I think I must have bent a rod inside some how.

And it works fine just I have no problems with it. I don't have dents in the side, I didnt do any reinforcing on mine, it's sturdy as ever I forgot to latch it once and it swung open and still nothing was dented but I wasn't going fast I was in a driveway.

I like my truck way better with the tire carrier on the back.

 

I hate typing on my iPod touch sorry for the errors.

 

I have one question for ya. Does the latch ever come undone on its own? I'm a little skeptical it might come unlatched when i'm driving down the road. Should I be worried?

 

It has never happened to me and my truck drives like a tank on bumpy roads and it has never came unlatched.
I've proly had the carrier on for a year now. When i latch it I always give it a good tug to make sure it's latched.

 

That's a strange problem, I can't see why it would need to be pressed a second time to lower the gate. The handle is connected to a metal rod about 5" long that connects to a pivoting arm bolted near the center of the gate. When I installed my spare tire carrier on my 4dr, I noticed that one of the bolts from that latch plate is almost right next to the pivoting arm in the middle. If I pull on the handle slowly, I can feel it catch on the last few threads on one of the bolts that holds that plate on so I wonder if your problem is related somehow. I don't remember the electric motor or button being connected at all to the rods/latch on the gate. They only dealt with the window. I have a picture of the inside tailgate mechanism I can post if you want me to

tibby, good luck with the install! you should post pics in the 4dr tire carrier thread once your done. It makes the truck look a lot better with it and I'm glad I did it to mine. I've only had mine on for a couple months now and haven't had the latch come loose although I was initially quite paranoid about it. I had a small cord attached so in case it came loose, there was still a secondary support to keep it from swinging out.

 

Yea post that picture cause if I can recall when I press the hatch button on the back it slid the rod over then when I pulled the handle inside it would open but if I don't press the outside button it won't open, now that you say that I think it was hitting the bolt at one time I just can't remember if I fixed that problem or not. I'm gonna go out there and take it all apart pretty soon and see what's up.

Thanks for your help

 

Sorry I couldn't reply sooner but here's the pic I have. I thought there was only one rod (with the green arrow) that connected the latches along the sides to the handle on the top but after opening the picture, I realized there is a secondary rod (in the blue box) that connects it to the electric glass release. I'm not sure what the purpose of that rod is for but judging by the sound of your problem, that rod might have something to do with it. You may have to just pull it apart to find the problem.