Rear hatch opening

Buddy of mine has broken his door key off (in a side door) and needs to open his rear hatch... is there any way he can open it from inside??

Thanks

I'm not sure if this is possible, but if you could slide something underneath the plastic panel, just above the latch, there is a plastic slider that locks and unlocks. You have to slide it towards the driver's side.

It is probably too high behind the panel to get to though, so you will probably be better off trying to get the plastic panel off and unlocking it by hand. There are a few screws, depending on year, and christmas tree clips holding it on. It might be a bit of a bitch since it probably wraps around the hatch opening a bit.

Or you can just remove the broken key and have another one made with the broken piece.

Or you can pull the whole lock cylinder out and take it to a blacksmith to have a key made. That's what I did for mine since I didn't have a key for the doors when I bought the Jeep. But the lock cylinder got really sloppy after they took it apart and put it back together. Eventually, I couldn't get the key in and had to unlock the passenger's door, then climb in and unlock my driver's door. If you go this route, I would suggest using the passenger's side lock cylinder to have a key made.

God luck.

I told him it would be easier to go get a key made... he was told $60 to have one made, but he wanted to check to see if there was a way to do it... I'll let him know.. Thanks

rcpilot92 said:

I told him it would be easier to go get a key made... he was told $60 to have one made, but he wanted to check to see if there was a way to do it... I'll let him know.. Thanks

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Holy sh*t!!! $60?! I think I paid about $15.

If you can pull the plasic molding back from the inside of the hatch you can get at the latching mechinism and unlock/ open it.

-Alex

I had AAA come out and make me a new key with the lock in the door. Was free because AAA but otherwise it would have been about $100.

Just forward of the rear bumper on the bottom side of the cargo floor are 2 nuts that hold the tailgate latch to the unibody. Remove the 2 bolts and the tailgate will open. If he has a skid or hitch the bolts may be blocked or partially blocked.

I know this was posted in February but for future reference.....

This is a great article on how to get the hatch open when its stuck. Mine just needed adjusted but you can use this info if its locked too.

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Jeep_Cherokee/Rear_Hatch_Won't_open

It's actually very easy. Just crawl into the back and pry the plastic inner panel away from the liftgate at the bottom of the window in the middle. Pry it away enough to get your arm in there. Just reach straight down to the latch and pull up on the rod that's on the driver's side. This will open the gate. Next remove your arm and apply bandaids as necessary.

The method below works for 1997-2001 XJ's. Does it work for the 1996 and older ?
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Tim_MN said:

Just forward of the rear bumper on the bottom side of the cargo floor are 2 nuts that hold the tailgate latch to the unibody. Remove the 2 bolts and the tailgate will open. If he has a skid or hitch the bolts may be blocked or partially blocked.

Click to expand...

From WIKI - Method Two: Look underneath the Jeep between the bumper and the gas tank. You are now looking at the bottom side of the cargo floor. You should see the two metric nuts that secure the striker bracket to the floor of the Cherokee. This bracket holds the hatch closed. A tow hitch bracket or gas tank skid plate may block your access to the striker nuts. If you can see the nuts, use a metric socket and socket wrench to remove the nuts securing the striker plate. The hatch should now swing open. You can now reinstall the striker to the floor and retighten the two nuts. NOTE: This will not work on latches with the plastic lift handle.