Suburban Tailgate hard to open (read: swing down and up)

[Crispy]

As the title states, the tailgate on my suburban is hard to swing up and down. Almost like there is rubbing or resistance through its range of motion.

Can anyone point me in the right direction to troubleshoot this? Are there any grease points or hinge adjustments to be made?

One it is up it latches easily and even with the body lines.

Thanks.

 

[yevgenievich]

Broken assist spring? Look behind the bumper where the spring mounts(driver side I believe)

 

[Crispy]

Broken assist spring? Look behind the bumper where the spring mounts(driver side I believe)

Thanks, I'll check that out later when I get home and post back.

 

[Crispy]

The torsion rod is in position and not broken. It does look to have a little bow in it about center between the hinges going towards the roof of the burb. So its kind of a rainbow instead of straight across. Does that sound right?

The hinges have some surface rust and to me seem to be the point of resistance. I'm going to clean them up as well I can and see what happens.

 

[bucket]

Lube the hinges with penetrating oil and work the tailgate open and closed countless times. With several applications, the hinges 'should' free up.

The support rod usually has a bow in it.

 

[Crispy]

I hit them with a bit of silicone spray and a little movement was restored. This weekend i'll get after it with some pb blaster then clean em up and hit em with white lithium. I'll get an arm work out in while i do it.

 

[Honky Kong jr]

I hit them with a bit of silicone spray and a little movement was restored. This weekend i'll get after it with some pb blaster then clean em up and hit em with white lithium. I'll get an arm work out in while i do it.

Win win you get your gate working better and you can skip the gym.lol

 

[Crispy]

Arm workout complete! I ended up taking the tail gate panel and window cover off to check the tightness of the hinge bolts and they are fine so I cleaned up the rust, hit it with lithium grease the proceeded to swing it up and down a bunch of time.

Much less resistance now. It is kind of heavy though but I guess we'll deal.

 

[Honky Kong jr]

Arm workout complete! I ended up taking the tail gate panel and window cover off to check the tightness of the hinge bolts and they are fine so I cleaned up the rust, hit it with lithium grease the proceeded to swing it up and down a bunch of time.

Much less resistance now. It is kind of heavy though but I guess we'll deal.

Cool.I've always preferred barn doors