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Rear Hatch Won't Open

M

Monstermx117

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Pennsylvania
Well, I have a 99 cherokee. The rear hatch won't open. Before, sometimes you'd have to pump it twice and pull and it would open. But now, it wont catch or something. I think it is actually because of my subs, they rattle the entire hatch. How can I take apart the handle and fix this?
 
Sounds like you'd be better off to get a new Jeep. Maybe there is something else you could do, but I dont know what it is.
 
Stallacrew said:
Sounds like you'd be better off to get a new Jeep. Maybe there is something else you could do, but I dont know what it is.
Click to expand...
:twak: Wow, buy a jeep to fix a liftgate lol


Here's some tips for you:
1- Make sure it's not locked, toggle the lock w/ key and try it from both key positions. That may also help free up the mechanism.
2. Crawl inside, put the back seats down so you have room to work, and take off the rear panel. You may be able to reach inside the door and activate the release mechanism from there. Once you get the gate open, it's really an easy fix.... ironically enough.
 
From the inside you need to remove the whole panel. It is plastic, mine was easy to take off. Inside you can see the workings of the handle. There is a vertical rod going up and another rod that attaches to that. The vertical rod will open the door if you pull up. The other rod should have a metal clip on it that will attach it to the vertical one. My clip got weak and would randomly fall off. I put a set of small vice grips in to hold it together until I could get a new clip to put on. That was 5 years ago. The power locks will unlock it but they will not always lock, not quite enough power I guess. It was easy to do. Once you get the plastic off it will be easy to see what I am talking about.
 
I had a similar problem with my '98 and all I did (once I got it open) was spray some WD-40 in the latch mechanism, works good now. To get it open I had to pull/push on the door with the little grab-points by license plate light to get the pressure on the latch just right.

Not sure if this is your problem or not, but it worked on mine.
 
on my 99 i had to use the unlock switch from both doors then push on one of the sides of the hatch while using the hatch handle and bam open
 
I had that problem with my 2000 xj. I took the nuts off of the bolts under the bottem of the door frame ( behind the bumper) got inside and forced it open.

Don't really reccomend this method. it damaged plastic parts around the door frame latch that I had to glue together.

Ounce I got it open I removed the door plastic inside. Adjusted that clip that someone mentioned above. wd 40 the latch . then checked alienment of the door latch and the loop bolted to the lower frame.

I had to put washers under the loop to raise it up for proper alienment. I am not sure if that was part of the origional problem or one I created when I forced it open. Anyway , Ounce you have it open check to make sure your loop and latch line up right.
It would be better if you can get it open without forcing it open.
 
Same thing was happening with mine - so 5 min. ago I got online and searched this and another xj forum and found suggestions, and within that 5 minutes I FIXED IT!

Wahoooooo!

Mine (2001) was feeling spongy kind of, a few months ago. Finally, the other day it wouldn't open anymore. Rats! I followed the advice of another XJ owner, went out to my jeep and gave it a fist to the lock-side of the latch mechanism, whilst pulling up on the handle. Opened right up! Took off the interior plastic panel (with ease), gave it a spray of WD-40, and all works fine now.

Have I told you how much I love this forum!?

thanks
 
Not to drag up an old thread, but I've got this problem with my parts Jeep. The back's full of tools & spare parts, so it'd be a pita to clean it out.

I removed the rear bumper and the 2 nuts for the latch. That allowed the hatch to wiggle alittle. Is there any way to get the hatch open without cleaning out the rear and doing it the way described above?
 
You can get the latch nuts loose/ off without pulling the bumper, just need a flex socket or extension.

Easy but brutish: bust open the plastic latch surround, reach in with pliers, lift latch rod, replace with junkyard parts.
 
JJacobs said:
You can get the latch nuts loose/ off without pulling the bumper, just need a flex socket or extension.

Easy but brutish: bust open the plastic latch surround, reach in with pliers, lift latch rod, replace with junkyard parts.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip. This is my parts Jeep and I planned on removing the bumper anyways. I'll have to try removing/breaking the surround.
 
I also got mine opened by removing the two nuts. Removed the two nuts hatched opened fine. Didn't damage anything. Removed panel and adjusted the linkage to pull on it more when you lift the handle. That was the problem with mine.
 
go1lum said:
I also got mine opened by removing the two nuts. Removed the two nuts hatched opened fine. Didn't damage anything. Removed panel and adjusted the linkage to pull on it more when you lift the handle. That was the problem with mine.
Click to expand...
Hatches are specifically designed to prevent being opened from the outside. That's how it is with pretty much every door in existence on a vehicle. The hatch pins bolt into the bottom of the unibody. You might (not sure) be able to drill out the center of the bolts and force open the hatch, latch bolt and all.
 
Mine was doing that so I just replaced the whole hatch. :) It was all scratched to ish so that was the easiest way to fix the paint. Now if I could just get the darn thing lined back up properly.
 
There's some adjustment shims for that at the base of the bolts where the hatch attaches to both the gate (for adjusting the angle forward/back on each side) and on the uni side (adjusting the rotation of the gate.)
 
Hmm, on my 97 I didn't see any shims- two bolts per side on the hatch that attach to a free-floating internal plate, and then of course the striker adjustment.

I'm probably doing it wrong.
 
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