Club 80-90 Forums

Hi, I would be grateful for advice please. I can't get the tailgate to shut. When I close it the gate just bounces back and won't latch. Push it hard or soft - it doesn't matter - still won't latch. I've had a good look at all the parts and they seem intact and working properly. I've pulled the rubber seal off in case it was fouling the latch but no improvement. The gate will shut and partially latch but it can be pulled open, even when locked.
Any solutions gratefully received,
Zeb

Mine does the same have to give it a good slam and a blast of wd40 inside the mechanism.

possibly an alignment issue, the striker plate on the body can move, if it's too far into the body then the lock won't fully latch; you can loosen the bolts attaching it to the body and move it towards the rear and retighten, it also has a dadge of side to side adjustment; you know of course that the lock must be in the open position when it attempts to latch, if it is already closed then it just bounces off the striker plate

many thanks Aidan, I assumed the plate was fixed. Thanks too Fazzer - I tried copious oil

I had the same problem a while ago and assumed it was the door, but as above a bit of adjustment on the locking plate and all good

thanks Troopy

hmmm - still can't get this to work properly. Moved the striker plate inwards, worse and outwards better. Moved towards o/s worse and n/s better. But - it still wont move the locking part far enough to latch. I can push it to latch with my finger and when in latch position it locks. Pushing the tailgate shut wont get it to latch successfully. Any thoughts??

cheers Zeb

tee3peeo wrote:hmmm - still can't get this to work properly. Moved the striker plate inwards, worse and outwards better. Moved towards o/s worse and n/s better. But - it still wont move the locking part far enough to latch. I can push it to latch with my finger and when in latch position it locks. Pushing the tailgate shut wont get it to latch successfully. Any thoughts??

cheers Zeb

Did it used to work?
What has changed ?
Are the top hinges loose or moved ?
Has the rubber seal come unseated ?

Didn't have to do this on mine, but by any chance is there a similar small amount of movement in the lock position as in the plate?

Did you manage to fix this? Facing the same problem myself which has gradually worsened over the last six months. All screws on the latch and hinges are super tight (I can't budge them with the tools I have without damaging the screw heards) and there is no movement on anything.

To get the lock to engage I have to close it till it half catches then push really hard against the lock area and eventually it seems to catch properly - but this is getting harder to do.