Fixed my Baja tailgate handle today. Although I found another guide on this site with some pics, I figured I would whip up a quick how-to as well, since this seems to be a somewhat common issue, and you can't just swing by AutoZone and pick one up (they can't even order it where I'm located).
Job Difficulty:
2 out of 10 - if you have the tools, you can do it.
Time required:
About 20 minutes.
Tools you'll need:
10mm socket
8mm socket
No. 3 Phillips Screwdriver (large)
Hammer (claw/ball peen, just make sure it's metal)
T25 Torx
Your choice of penetrating oil/water displacer.
Tools you'll want:
Small/needle-nose pliers
6" socket extension
A spray lubricant, such as white lithium
Wire brush
Magnetic parts tray
Remove the inner tailgate cover by removing the 10 T25 screws. In this picture I've already removed 8 of them.
Remove the 4 phillip screws holding the tonneau cover rail/top metal cover. *CAREFUL* there are 4 plastic spacers underneath those screws that you will need to keep. Two are white, two are black. And now that I am looking at the pictures closer... they appear different sizes. I would probably make sure each pair stays in the location it came from. I actually didn't realize this while tearing it down, and I think I put it back together correctly by dumb luck.
Remove and set aside both tailgate covers.
Remove the 8 phillip screws holding the metal access panel to the tailgate. Remove and set aside the access panel.
From here you can check where the problem lies. Pull the handle and see if the handle itself is staying in place, or if the latches on the left and right are getting stuck. If it's your latches, now is the time to blast them with penetrating oil/WD-40, and rock the connecting rods back and forth by hand. After they are free, be sure to grease them, as penetrating oil will not last as a lubricant, and you'll be doing this job again next month. When its cold out. And your knuckles get angry at you when you bump them into things. Don't make your knuckles angry at you.
Here is a picture of one of the body/gate latch mechanisms.
However, my problem doesn't lie with the latches, but instead the handle. So let's get to fixing that.
Here is the handle mechanism. Red is 10mm. Green is 8mm. Purple is Phillips.
Remove the 8mm bolts first, but *don't* remove the phillips. It is strictly there to make sure the cover doesn't drop out and get scratched. Get a good handle on the bezel from the outside.
Then use your needle nose to push the retaining clip under the phillips screw together. It should then come out (can take a little finessing).
Here's a picture showing that the only 4 things holding that bezel on are the 3 nuts and the retaining clip.
Now remove the 10mm bolts holding the tailgate handle and mechanism to the tailgate. *Don't* remove the tailgate handle yet. Pull the double arm mechanism up and off the handle's bolts. You don't have to remove the latch connecting rods, but you can if you would like a bit more room. Now, there's another retaining clip underneath that mechanism that will need to be squeezed to remove the tailgate handle without breaking the clip. I've highlighted it in the pictures below in yellow. It's not the exact same as the bezel piece, but same concept. Get a nice needle nose in there and it should squeeze right together. Or you can be too lazy to dig out your needle nose, like me, and use a big ol' regular pair of pliers, like this.
With the retaining clips squeezed, the tailgate handle should pop right out.
Now, I fixed mine the easy and hillbilly way. You can see how the handle works in this picture (I didn't take one with it off the vehicle).
The plastic handle has 4 arms with holes through them. The metal housing has two arms with holes through them, on the outside of the plastic arms. They slide a shaft through all 6 of these arms, then crimp both ends ends so that the shaft is too fat to slide out of the metal housing, either left or right. What happens is, the road grime and slow corrosion of the shaft expands and fills the very tight gap between the plastic arms and the shaft, no longer allowing it to rotate freely. For those you who already know how they are going to fix this, go ahead, because it's probably more thorough than my method, hehe.
My method:
So, take your penetrating oil/lubricant, and spray the shaft near all the plastic arms, try to get as much in there as possible. Then take a hammer and strike the shaft to try to drive it either direction. Then flip it and drive it the opposite direction - this part is more art than science. In between strikes, keep spraying the shaft. After you get a nice 1/8 inch of back and forth slide on the shaft, you should be able to work enough grease/penetrating oil in the plastic arms that it opens and returns to its normal position like brand new. Feel free to use your wire brush to clean off as much grime/corrosion as you can in between strikes as well, just for good measure.
Slap it back together, try 'er out a few times, and have a beer.
Cheers,
Paul
