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Tailgate alignment ?

I just got a 2020 3500 and have the same issue on the left. From the posts here, they all have it.
 
Tom716 said:
Anyone else have an issue with alignment? Mine has been like this since day one but hasn't really bothered me until everyone else has noticed it and said something. I tried adjusting the striker but doesn't seem to make a difference. It is only on the left side and it seems to lock fine and auto open with the fob ok. I will make an appointment with the dealer, just wondering if anyone else has had this issue? Left side with issue
View attachment 4776

Right sideView attachment 4777

View attachment 4778We didn't let the tailgate bother us, still went boating yesterday
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I bought a 2021 2500 2 weeks ago. Everything was straight when I got it. Noticed earlier this week that the tailgate was not releasing right away, it would stick. Saw the same thing you did, drivers side of tailgate is not flush. Started looking more and noticed that the rubber flap between the bed and cab is aligned perfectly on the passenger side, but on the drivers side, the top part of the rubber is pushed into the cab. I have driven the truck 500 miles, all pavement and I have not put anything in the bed since I have not had the Line-X done yet. So, it has shifted with normal driving. Took it to the dealership and it is at their body shop now.
 
Jhodge075 said:
I bought a 2021 2500 2 weeks ago. Everything was straight when I got it. Noticed earlier this week that the tailgate was not releasing right away, it would stick. Saw the same thing you did, drivers side of tailgate is not flush. Started looking more and noticed that the rubber flap between the bed and cab is aligned perfectly on the passenger side, but on the drivers side, the top part of the rubber is pushed into the cab. I have driven the truck 500 miles, all pavement and I have not put anything in the bed since I have not had the Line-X done yet. So, it has shifted with normal driving. Took it to the dealership and it is at their body shop now.
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Body shop sent their estimate to fix this issue. Dealership sent it to Chrysler and they said to just replace the rubber strips between the bed and cab. Service advisor came out to the truck with me with a tape measure. Measuring from the back of the cab to the front corners of the bed on drivers and passenger sides, there was a 1/4” difference. The bottom measurements from cab to bottom corners were the same on both sides. This is clearly a manufacturing flaw with the drivers side bedside. Service manager was going to be communicating more with Chrysler about this issue. Hopefully he will be able to get better results from Chrysler!
 
Mine's the same way. 19 bighorn 2500 short bed. she's a working girl, so I'm not too bothered by it lol. I got over worrying about stuff the minute I had to install a gooseneck B&W turn over ball and had to drill a hole in the middle of the bed and side for the 7-pin extension. It got me over trying to keep her perfect. Now if it was a weekend only never work kinda truck I'd be worried about imperfections... :)
 
Here's what you need to do because I just fixed it. Lower your tailgate to 45 degrees (like you're going to remove it), give a swift jerk towards the drivers side, cut a piece of plastic about a tenth of an inch thick and shove that bastard in the space that will now appear on the passenger side. Voila. Equal gaps. Now adjust the latches until flush.
 
Mine has an even gap on both the right and left sides at the top (bottom is flush). It's like the top of the tailgate is just not pulled in enough. Doesn't appear to be a rubber Stopper problem. Opens fine. Auto open with the fob or button is fine. Closes fine. There's just a top gap (1/4") on the both sides.

Is there adjustment in the body latch pin?

Scared to mess with it for fear it'll stop opening and closing correctly.
 
ckreef said:
Mine has an even gap on both the right and left sides at the top (bottom is flush). It's like the top of the tailgate is just not pulled in enough. Doesn't appear to be a rubber Stopper problem. Opens fine. Auto open with the fob or button is fine. Closes fine. There's just a top gap (1/4") on the both sides.

Is there adjustment in the body latch pin?

Scared to mess with it for fear it'll stop opening and closing correctly.
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Slam that sumbitch like you mean it. If that doesn't work adjust the latch pins.
 
Flatlandman said:
Took mine to the dealer. Looks like they sprayed some lube all over but it doesn't shut any better. I might try to move the LH hinge aft if I can. Hate to have to slam it.
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Old school simple fix here... the rod on the bed side on mine would not adjust enough to bring the tail gate in to get it flush with the bed. I used a 3 lb. mallet and carefully gave it 3-4 controlled hits on the round end of it. Now it's completely flush, and I can shut the gate closed with one hand using only 2 fingers. What I haven't been able to figure out is how to fix the fact that the support cable on that same side IS LONGER than the right side...
 
ckreef said:
Mine has an even gap on both the right and left sides at the top (bottom is flush). It's like the top of the tailgate is just not pulled in enough. Doesn't appear to be a rubber Stopper problem. Opens fine. Auto open with the fob or button is fine. Closes fine. There's just a top gap (1/4") on the both sides.

Is there adjustment in the body latch pin?

Scared to mess with it for fear it'll stop opening and closing correctly.
Click to expand...
This is my scenario. I don't want to bang on anything and certainly don't want the dealer manhandling things either. I think I can live with the tiny bit of misalignment. It operates just fine. If it didn't then that's a different story.

Vehicles nowadays are pretty decent as far as fit and finish/alignment. Remember some of the 80's cars.....think Fox Mustangs and 3rd gen Camaros. They had all sorts of issues right out of the gate.

Sent from my moto z3 using Tapatalk
 
Mine was off by about 3/16 inch from being flush at the top, with the tailgate itself sticking out 3/16" from body.
After reading this thread, I went out and shut it like I meant it and it is now perfectly flush!
Great! I wasn't really looking forward to either taking it back to dealer, or trying to loosen and adjust the posts myself.
Thanks for the knowledge!
 
Mine is also not even no matter how hard you close it. I really don't care. It's a tailgate.
 
Same issue on my 2021. Left side out a bit unless I close it hard. Looking at the upper rubber stoppers with gate closed I could see the left side was significantly more compressed than the right side, keeping it from fully latching. Used a straight razor blade to shave the stopper where it was most compressed. Gate now closes evenly with moderate force.
 
I recognize this is an old thread. However, did you see the "Important Safety Recall" for tailgate latch alignment? I received hardcopy notice of the recall within the past few weeks. ZB8/NHTSA 22V-904
https://www.chrysler.com/universal/webselfservice/pdf/ZB8.pdf

I live more than 100 miles away from a RAM dealer, and generally have had very poor luck getting anything done. So I may just look into the striker alignment myself in the meantime. However, I thought the info might be useful to someone on the thread.
 
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