94 XJ Back Hatch Wont Open

my back hatch wont open and im trying to get the panel off but im having trouble getting it off. is there any trick that i dont know about. please help me out if you can thanks

the panel has those stupid clips. be careful not to break too many of them when ripping it out, ive never tried this with the lift gate closed though.

Can you remove the bolts and nut from bottom side? Run a search on tail gates, should be a write up there

yep there are two bolts that hold the latch down and you should just be able to unbolt them from the outside

My has done this twice. We ended up having to cut the bolts off because they are to long to just pull through with the tail gate. After we cut it we had to just kick the tailgate from the inside to get it open. The reason it got stuck was the little lever that locks it gets stuck. Just take the plastic panel off once the tailgate is open and hit the unlock botton while you pull on the lever manually. it should unlock. Make sure you clean the mechanism really good and use a lube that wont collect dust. Sillicone and graphite works good. good luck.

follow those instructions & when you get inside the hatch, there's a white plastic plate you pull on to open it up. what ever you do DONT PULL ON THE BUTTON FROM THE OUTSIDE!!!!!! i did that the other day when it was like 28 degrees out & tore that button off the jeep. not sure if i can put it back together with some fiberglass body work, & it still work (need to replace the actual button too, i broke the tab off as well).!!!1 :doh:

good luck .

The ZJ sticks, I release the handle and push in to the right of the latch part on the tailgate itself, that releases it.

In case it hasn't arisen yet, the inside panel is hooked at the top. To get it off, you have to lift it upward after you've pulled all the pins.