Bent tailgate/hinge… cause unknown

Could be, it attaches directly to the frame though. Hard to imagine that a swing arm would bend the frame just by being open. There’s also around the same amount of weight on each arm, so that should also theoretically prevent it from bending one side.

That being said… I do have a old pic with the tailgate open before installing the bumper. Looks like both cables are pretty taught. Maybe it’s just my eyes playing tricks on me, but if anything the passenger side looks a bit looser.

 

One was, the passenger side bolt attached to the tailgate got ripped out/stripped and I had to rethread it. That’s how I came to notice this in the first place.

 

Ugh, of course it can’t be that simple…

 

How did it get ripped out?

 

Not exactly sure. I’m guessing that I just jumped up onto the tailgate at some point and jacked it up. All the weight is on that one bolt since so it’s not gonna handle the weight how it should, especially if I jumped up on the driver side creating a long moment arm on the bolt.

I really only saw the aftermath which was the bolt sticking out halfway and all crooked.

 

So I just started measuring shit to try and figure out what’s going on. It seems that the entire bed is skewed by about 4mm.

These two pictures are measuring between the bed and the cab on either side.




What’s also interesting/annoying is a slight bend in the bed on the driver side. (I looked through some old pics and it seems that the bend has been there since before the shell, but those photos are crap so I’m sharing the most recent one)

 

That last pic looks like a bed stiffener fail.

 

Sounds more and more like alcohol is involved. Or Sasquatch. Or both.

 

I don't know if it's all the weight added, or attempting Ivan Ironman Stewart Baja style jumps, but you've found the limits of this truck.

 

Did you figure this out at all? I just picked up a 2023 DCSB and the driver side tailgate cable is loose also. I took it to the dealer and we replaced the driver side and it did the same thing with the new cable. We then moved the old perceived longer cable from the driver side to the passenger side and it did the same thing. Took out all the cables to measure it and they were all the same length.
The service guy took a look at a few other trucks and they were all the same way. He said that it's made that way apparently to make it easier to remove the cables when needed. I think he was pulling that line out of his ass. I'm gonna have them take a look at it again when i take it in for the first service.

 

Same issue on my 24 trail hunter. Dealership told me to fuck myself. Thinking of just jamming something into the opening of the latch to pull it taught. Did you find a solution ?