Attention: TDR Forum Junkies My tailgate tried to fall off last week. Thank goodness for the safety cables.
I've been having AC issues all year, and it gave up again about 10 days ago (the evaporator was leaking freon but not externally - it finally fried this time to the point where the techs could figure it out. ) Before I could get it to the shop, I had to suffer with open windows in 90+ degree heat. While out for lunch last Wednesday, I hear some excessive creaking and groaning from the bed area. Eyeballing the back end when I parked, I saw nothing visibly wrong, so I ignored it for the time being. When I got out of work at 8pm, I figured, open and re-slam the tailgate, that should cure it. Interestingly, the gate seemed jammed, as the handle had no immediate effect. I gave it a good yank.
Tailgate hasn't been closed since.
It came right off the pivot pins, as if I was intentionally trying to remove it for a slide-in. After fighting with it for 20 minutes, I think I have it back on and re-latched, then I c-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y drive home. Just six miles, but not the smoothest roads in the world. By the time I get home, the tailgate is swintging from one end like a side hinged unit, the safety cable keeping it relatively in check.
I spend an hour in the driveway assessing the situation. It appears as if the bed has either shifted or something, widening the opening by over half an inch. Once again, I think I have it re-latched, carefully balanced on the pivots. I head off for work Thursday, and I don't even get half a mile before it's swinging freely again. I go right back home, park it, and walk around the corner - you never know how conveninet it is to have a national chain rent-a-car store (Dollar) a block away until stuff like this happens. I jump in a 2001 Taurus, and go to work. Friday morning, I manage to wedge the tailgate in the bed on the opposite side of the supports, upside down and backwards, and drop the Ram off at the dealer.
Dealer asst. service manager (my usual write-up guy) calls Tuesday to inform me about the evaporator - they have to order it and it won't arrive til Thursday (today). The body shop they work with will look over the tailgate situation and call me separately, he says. I get a call today from the body shop. Their diagnosis is the strangest thinmg I've heard. The bed is somehow separating, and they're not really sure how or why. They need to add braces to the rear supports to "push" them back together so that the tailgate will once again fit the opening. I already have an appointment with them on the 26th for a "restoration" - taking care of 6 years of dents and dings, and a repaint, and they said they can take care of it then, but not before because they are going on vacation after Friday the 16th (which I knew already - my restoration was going to be job 1 whgen they reopened the 26th). So for 2 weeks, I will likely have to dribve the truyck either without a tailgate (illegal since I have a dually, and the clearance lights are a federal requirement), or I have to wedge the gate on the opposite side of the rear supports the way I managed to do it dribving to the dealer, but I'd have to flip it over so that the tailgate would appear to be facing correctly so I can reattach the clearance light wiring plug.
I've owned trucks exclusively for over 12 years. I've been driving trucks since I had my license 20 years ago. I have NEVER heard of a bed "working itself apart" to the point where the bed had separated far enough to cause the tailgate to fall. Anyone else seen or heard of anything like this? Truck is just six years old (build date April 1996) with 76,000 miles.
Next call is to my salesdude - I'll ask him if he has a tentative order date to get the HO Cummins with the new 48RE automatic yet, assuming the lady n black can make it through the winter... or I'll order a standard-output (250/460 with 47RE) unit in October if it looks like more than late winter (Feb/March) to get the HO. Wanted to wait and get a 2004. 5 with EGR to handle the low-sulfur diesel fuel that's coming, but doesn't look like I will make it til then.
I've been having AC issues all year, and it gave up again about 10 days ago (the evaporator was leaking freon but not externally - it finally fried this time to the point where the techs could figure it out. ) Before I could get it to the shop, I had to suffer with open windows in 90+ degree heat. While out for lunch last Wednesday, I hear some excessive creaking and groaning from the bed area. Eyeballing the back end when I parked, I saw nothing visibly wrong, so I ignored it for the time being. When I got out of work at 8pm, I figured, open and re-slam the tailgate, that should cure it. Interestingly, the gate seemed jammed, as the handle had no immediate effect. I gave it a good yank.
Tailgate hasn't been closed since.
It came right off the pivot pins, as if I was intentionally trying to remove it for a slide-in. After fighting with it for 20 minutes, I think I have it back on and re-latched, then I c-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y drive home. Just six miles, but not the smoothest roads in the world. By the time I get home, the tailgate is swintging from one end like a side hinged unit, the safety cable keeping it relatively in check.
I spend an hour in the driveway assessing the situation. It appears as if the bed has either shifted or something, widening the opening by over half an inch. Once again, I think I have it re-latched, carefully balanced on the pivots. I head off for work Thursday, and I don't even get half a mile before it's swinging freely again. I go right back home, park it, and walk around the corner - you never know how conveninet it is to have a national chain rent-a-car store (Dollar) a block away until stuff like this happens. I jump in a 2001 Taurus, and go to work. Friday morning, I manage to wedge the tailgate in the bed on the opposite side of the supports, upside down and backwards, and drop the Ram off at the dealer.
Dealer asst. service manager (my usual write-up guy) calls Tuesday to inform me about the evaporator - they have to order it and it won't arrive til Thursday (today). The body shop they work with will look over the tailgate situation and call me separately, he says. I get a call today from the body shop. Their diagnosis is the strangest thinmg I've heard. The bed is somehow separating, and they're not really sure how or why. They need to add braces to the rear supports to "push" them back together so that the tailgate will once again fit the opening. I already have an appointment with them on the 26th for a "restoration" - taking care of 6 years of dents and dings, and a repaint, and they said they can take care of it then, but not before because they are going on vacation after Friday the 16th (which I knew already - my restoration was going to be job 1 whgen they reopened the 26th). So for 2 weeks, I will likely have to dribve the truyck either without a tailgate (illegal since I have a dually, and the clearance lights are a federal requirement), or I have to wedge the gate on the opposite side of the rear supports the way I managed to do it dribving to the dealer, but I'd have to flip it over so that the tailgate would appear to be facing correctly so I can reattach the clearance light wiring plug.
I've owned trucks exclusively for over 12 years. I've been driving trucks since I had my license 20 years ago. I have NEVER heard of a bed "working itself apart" to the point where the bed had separated far enough to cause the tailgate to fall. Anyone else seen or heard of anything like this? Truck is just six years old (build date April 1996) with 76,000 miles.
Next call is to my salesdude - I'll ask him if he has a tentative order date to get the HO Cummins with the new 48RE automatic yet, assuming the lady n black can make it through the winter... or I'll order a standard-output (250/460 with 47RE) unit in October if it looks like more than late winter (Feb/March) to get the HO. Wanted to wait and get a 2004. 5 with EGR to handle the low-sulfur diesel fuel that's coming, but doesn't look like I will make it til then.
