97-01 Hatch Release Lever adjustment

After putting up with a sticky hatch mechanism for several months on my 2000 XJ, I finally got tired of it rarely opening on the first tug.

I pulled interior hatch panel and discovered that the release mechanism contains an adjustable rod that you can rotate to compensate for wear.

Here is the simple tutorial to make your hatch open like new!




BTW, Step-3 should include "re-attach rod to Green clip"...... :confused1

the best fix is to find a lock nut that threads onto that rod to prevent it from happening again

I put new rubber stops in the hatch. Mine were shot and for $3 I had too anyway. Tailgate started not opening all the time. When it would not open pressing to the left of the latch would work. Just so people know you can remove the interior hatch cover enough to pop it from the inside if it will not open at all. If you are careful you will not break anything. I watched a video for this but the guy messed with the upper gray clip. Looked to fragile. I did what XJEEPER did. Unhook the bottom green clip and 2 turns worked for me. In the video I watched the guy put a small zip tie around the rod above the gray clip. Seemed like a good idea so I did it.