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Liftgate sag

tjmotter

NAXJA Forum User
NAXJA Member
Location
Texas
Is this liftgate salvageable or do I need to replace it?

I had a leak in the rear window and after looking closely I found that the liftgate has deformed enough to open a gap between the window and rubber seal. Basically, the sides have squeezed in, the middle of the top edge has squeezed up and the effect is that the whole liftgate droops. I ran a bead of RTV across the rubber seal on the window side and the liftgate side which has stopped the leak but ideally I would like to find a way to squeeze it back into the proper shape.

Any ideas?





 
Looks like a normal body line for a Cherokee. Your hinge is a little warn you can get some shims to even it out. After you get it evened out get some new weatherstrip. The old weather strip is probably compressed and matches the old sagging hatch. During alignment the body line still may not match perfectly when trying to get a good seal.

Replace the window seal with a new one and the gap will go away.
 
I may not be explaining properly because this definitely isn't normal and I don't see how shims will fix this.

The body seal is brand new and doesn't leak at all. The issue is that the window frame is now distorted at the center (top). If I pull the window seal down I can see inside the Jeep so water is collecting on the liftgate and will stream in through this gap. Once the rubber seal collects enough water, it starts to drip into the Jeep. The seal itself is consistent in size all the way around so I don't see this being a seal or a window issue.

If you look at the Jeep from the rear, the liftgate is aligned at the same height as the body at the hinges. It droops below the level of the body at the outside corners by about 1/8" and at the center point of the body, the liftgate edge is about 1/4" higher than the body. I can keep the RTV approach and simply fill in the gaps but I would prefer to either figure out how to flex the window frame back into alignment or, as a last resort, change out the liftgate.

thoughts?
 
The pictures really don't show anything. If you feel the tailgate is distorted, buy another, you aren't going to be able to make any repairs to this one. At the local U-Pull-It junkyard, tailgates are $59.
 
Time will tell but I think I was able to fix it. Using a trick I learned from working with fibre glass bodies, I wrapped a ratchet strap around the tailgate (top to bottom) and cinched it up tight. I then applied heat along the top edge and left it for a couple of hours. It seems to be reformed back into position.

Apologies for the bad cell phone pics but the area I was referring to was the section around the top of the window that I highlighted with a red circle. Essentially, when the tailgate started to droop, the sides pinched in causing the top to flex up. Hopefully the heat/pressure trick holds up. The beast spent most of it's life outdoors and it can get pretty hot in Texas. It now spends its time in a garage so with a little luck, this fix will hold.
 
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