Liftgate hinge

Stomper4x4 · 11-25-2005, 03:01 PM

When I first bought my truck I noticed the right liftgate hinge looked bent. The left looked straight. I asked the dealer and they said it was fine. Well I noticed the other day the the left now looks a little bent and the right more so than before. I don't do anything unusual. Anyone else have this issue?

pi3yeargrad · 11-25-2005, 03:04 PM

Mine are straight...hardly ever open the tailgate though...so I dunno

Treebasher · 11-25-2005, 03:27 PM

Almost looks like the tailgate was down and the truck was backed into a wall or something big. Did you ever have a lot of weight pushing down on the tailgate when it was in the up position?

Stomper4x4 · 11-25-2005, 03:33 PM

Nope, never hit anything. Never put anything too heavy on it either. I sit on the open tail gate a lot. I load gear, Climbing, boating and camping stuff. Coolers of beer are the heaviest single items usually.

I just figured if it's happening to me then it would happen to everyone.

bestatchess · 11-25-2005, 04:37 PM

My right tail gate hinge has looked exactly like your photo since I first got the truck. My left hinge is straight.

titanQ · 11-25-2005, 04:50 PM

I noticed the bolt in the left hinge of mine was missing a couple months after I bought mine

Treebasher · 11-25-2005, 06:42 PM

I checked mine out and took a couple of pictures. I've loaded 4 wheelers on it, wood, used the tailgate as scaffold, plenty of coolers of barley pop

, deer(sorry about the snow,blood, and dirt), ect... I really can't figure what would cause one tailgate to do it and another not.

Hopefully there will be a few more that see this and post on this subject.

Stomper4x4 · 11-25-2005, 07:04 PM

Well, I suggest we all keep an eye on them. I'm hunting for the pic took a year ago for photo comparison to the one to just took. I positive the right has bent more exposing more of the bushing and the left one is starting to bend. My truck has about 26k.

Stomper4x4 · 12-06-2005, 08:25 AM

well. The dealer ordered new hinges for me. They didn't say there was anything wrong. What they did say was they are designed to do that and that they were not bent or bending. They also said they had seen it before, but I think the guy just had a foggy memory of me showing it to him before.

Whatever. Looks like I will get new ones. If they their poorly designed then I'm sure they will "not bend" again. Guess I'll just wait to hear is some poor list members tailgate falls off.

titancrazy · 12-06-2005, 08:44 AM

I may be wrong, but it seems that since the tailgate is so heavy that the constant weight while in the upright position is causing the hinges to bend. I realize that the latch should take some pressure away, but obviously something is causing them to bend. Both of mine are the same at 29800 miles. The right one is exposing part of the tailgate that fits into the bracket. I am curious to see if most of these we see are 04, or 05 and 06.

Clint · 12-06-2005, 08:50 AM

When I started looking at the Titan I saw this on the truck in the showroom.
That is definately a defect. I use my truck for work, and open the tailgate every day, more than once. Mine are as straight as when new. The corners on the hinges are at a 90 degree square angle the bushing fits in perfectly on both sides. I find it humorous that no matter what you bring to the dealers attention they call it normal. Even if the part is broken in half or falling off the truck.

Clint

baseballfanz · 12-06-2005, 03:16 PM

Everytime I read one of these thread I have to run out and check my truck.

Both mine are on straight.

*flyguy* · 12-07-2005, 11:51 AM

I had the same problem on mine. My tailgate rattled like crazy over bumps and had about 1-2" of up and down movement on both sides when in the closed position. I got new hinges (replaced under warranty) and it is stable for now. I occasionally haul an ATV in the back, but that shouldn't matter.

With all of the problems I have had, the longer I own this truck, the better the new Tundra is looking.

zachopp · 12-07-2005, 12:05 PM

I checked mine and they are bent as well. I have an 04 and I haul a very light Quad, only 300 lbs, and it fits in the box with the tailgate up. I also noticed that the gap between the side of the tailgate is much more on the passenger side versus the drivers side, I wonder if this would from these hinges?

Jim Padget · 12-19-2005, 10:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stomper4x4

When I first bought my truck I noticed the right liftgate hinge looked bent. The left looked straight. I asked the dealer and they said it was fine. Well I noticed the other day the the left now looks a little bent and the right more so than before. I don't do anything unusual. Anyone else have this issue?

Is that the pivot point of the hinge? Hard to tell from the pic, but it looks more like the dampener for the “soft drop” part, not the actual hinge?? Any way, it shouldn't look like that. Too late and cold to go out and look at mine right now.

Jim
05 Crew LE Copper