Tailgate stuck in closed position

[jayshawaii]

The tailgate on my '03 Baja is stuck in the closed position. I took the plastic liner and the metal hatch off, from inside the bed, to take a look. It appears that the latch mechanism is a bit weak, or I have a very heavy, ham-hand. When the release handle, at the back of the gate, was engaged, to open the gate, the latches (inside the latches, on both sides of the tailgate) malfunctioned. The pawls that lift the latch mechanisms, came past the latch lifters. They are, now, just floating above the latch. Now there is no way to get them to go down past the lifters, within the mechanism, to be able to re-engage the latch.

Has anyone else had this problem? Or, does anyone know how to get the latches to disengage from the outside so that I can let the gate down to disassemble the latch mechanism to get the lifter pawls to re-engage the latch?