S Dundee
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My tailgate was not adjusted correctly at the factory. The lower right side sat about 1/8 of an inch inward (toward the truck bed) instead of being aligned with the fender. The left side was fine.
I removed the tailgate and loosened but did not remove the 2 Torx bolts that hold the hinge to the uni-body. As shown in the Ford photo, these bolts are pre-coated with threadlocker, so you will need a breaker bar to loosen the bolts. All of the Torx fasteners on this vehicle have very shallow recesses, so you also have to really hold your Torx socket in the bolt head so you don't cam out.
While the tailgate was off, I installed the wiring harness and power lock mechanism as my XL had the manual tailgate lock. I also installed the 3D printed plug for the large 2 holes at the bottom of the tailgate. The plug is really nice! Thanks to @P99Guy https://segarms.square.site/s/shop As a comment, the tailgate has weep holes punched from the factory so it is made to drain water out when the tailgate is closed. I bought the vented hole plug, but it probably doesn't matter which one you get as there are many weep holes already in the tailgate.
Back to the hinges. There is quite a bit of fore and aft adjustment on these hinges so there is a lot of room to make an adjustment. I adjusted the hinge outward about 1/8 of an inch. After reinstalling the tailgate, I made a very small adjustment to the top right striker. Sometimes you get lucky, and I guess I did because sometimes these adjustments take forever. This one took about 30 minutes.
All the other body panels on my Maverick were adjusted correctly at the factory. Not sure why the tailgate was off on one side. I have noticed in parking lots a number of other Mavericks also with ill fitting tailgates.
I do have a theory. From looking at the Maverick body panels, it appears that the tailgate is the only one where access to the hinge bolts is concealed by the body panel. The tailgate hinges have to be installed (and tightened) without the tailgate on the vehicle. For the other panels, Ford likely has a jig that the factory workers use for alignment that holds the door or hood open while they adjust the hinge bolts. Not possible on the tailgate. Even with the tailgate open, the adjustment bolts are not accessible.
So just guessing, but probably this is why a number of Mavericks that I see have somewhat ill fitting tailgates. The factory worker does not want to stop the line to remove the tailgate, adjust the hinge and reinstall the tailgate. All of which is done before the car is sprayed.
I was going to have my dealer adjust the hinge, but as I was doing the power door lock install anyway, I decided to do it myself. Not sure about you, but I have also had variable and sometimes negative experiences when the dealer makes these kinds of adjustments if they will do it at all. The tailgate hinge adjustment turned out well, didn't take much time, and I also now have the power door locks on the tailgate.
I removed the tailgate and loosened but did not remove the 2 Torx bolts that hold the hinge to the uni-body. As shown in the Ford photo, these bolts are pre-coated with threadlocker, so you will need a breaker bar to loosen the bolts. All of the Torx fasteners on this vehicle have very shallow recesses, so you also have to really hold your Torx socket in the bolt head so you don't cam out.
While the tailgate was off, I installed the wiring harness and power lock mechanism as my XL had the manual tailgate lock. I also installed the 3D printed plug for the large 2 holes at the bottom of the tailgate. The plug is really nice! Thanks to @P99Guy https://segarms.square.site/s/shop As a comment, the tailgate has weep holes punched from the factory so it is made to drain water out when the tailgate is closed. I bought the vented hole plug, but it probably doesn't matter which one you get as there are many weep holes already in the tailgate.
Back to the hinges. There is quite a bit of fore and aft adjustment on these hinges so there is a lot of room to make an adjustment. I adjusted the hinge outward about 1/8 of an inch. After reinstalling the tailgate, I made a very small adjustment to the top right striker. Sometimes you get lucky, and I guess I did because sometimes these adjustments take forever. This one took about 30 minutes.
All the other body panels on my Maverick were adjusted correctly at the factory. Not sure why the tailgate was off on one side. I have noticed in parking lots a number of other Mavericks also with ill fitting tailgates.
I do have a theory. From looking at the Maverick body panels, it appears that the tailgate is the only one where access to the hinge bolts is concealed by the body panel. The tailgate hinges have to be installed (and tightened) without the tailgate on the vehicle. For the other panels, Ford likely has a jig that the factory workers use for alignment that holds the door or hood open while they adjust the hinge bolts. Not possible on the tailgate. Even with the tailgate open, the adjustment bolts are not accessible.
So just guessing, but probably this is why a number of Mavericks that I see have somewhat ill fitting tailgates. The factory worker does not want to stop the line to remove the tailgate, adjust the hinge and reinstall the tailgate. All of which is done before the car is sprayed.
I was going to have my dealer adjust the hinge, but as I was doing the power door lock install anyway, I decided to do it myself. Not sure about you, but I have also had variable and sometimes negative experiences when the dealer makes these kinds of adjustments if they will do it at all. The tailgate hinge adjustment turned out well, didn't take much time, and I also now have the power door locks on the tailgate.
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