Tailgate stuck closed. Help on opening.

Tailgate stuck closed on driver side of 2005 Tacoma. I suspect dirt or small gravel got stuck in tailgate mechanism not allowing it to release. After removing top plastic cover of tailgate and removing couple bolts from poly cover I could reach inside of handle to pull release rod but it broke after applying to much pressure. Any advise how to open my tailgate from the inside? Google searches and "leaning" on tailgate hasn't worked. I'm trying to avoid cutting into it all together.

 

NEED Help on opening.....

 

Can you not find where the pin goes into the bed and jam a screwdriver in there? I don't know as I'm not looking at my truck at the moment, but I used to do that all the time on my Rangers.

 

I thought you could remove all the screws that hold the inner tailgate (plastic) cover on, and pull straight up to remove the whole panel? It won't be easy if you can, there are two rubber bumpers on either side of the tailgate that are going to give friction.

Once you do that, you should be able to look inside and pull the rod that actuates the latch that is stuck. There are two plastic retainers that hold the rods to the handle. My guess is that one of those retainers just popped off.

 

I was going to try jam with a screwdriver method.

 

Got a small piece of gravel in mine one time, had to take the whole thing apart.

 

what he said works