Need help with liftgate adjustment

[3Stgs]

I have an 86 Bronco II we bought out of an estate that is a time capsule, but being 36 years old it needs some attention. We are tackling the liftgate now - the left / driver side latch was sheared off at the bolts. We were able to get the broken bolts out, reset the latch which was still fully functional, and give it a try. The right latch works fine (as before), but the left one will not fully latch. The top clamp (not sure what to call it, they both snap down on the striker to hold the gate in place), hits against the striker and if you pull up on the gate while latching you can clear it, but then only one of the clamps engages on the striker. We thought the striker needs to be lowered so it hits in the middle of the latch and doesn’t hit the striker, but there is no adjustment to make it lower. Hard to take photos of it - there’s no adjustment on anything else other than the striker. The only other thing I can think of is the strikers that I’ve looked at online has some type of bushing on them, mine are bare metal and seem to have a smaller diameter to them. Any help would be great, i’d be happy to offer more information if needed.

 

[3Stgs]

Update - my son and I decided to test the theory out that the missing bushing was the culprit, so we wrapped some tape around the striker and sure enough, works perfectly. We’re still going to have the issue of the top tooth of the latch hitting the striker though, so I’m not sure what we’re going to do about that…

 

[Uncle Gump]

I've heard of people cutting the correct size PVC pipe to fit over. They cut a slit and push it over the post.

I did some door strikers using a spiral cut plastic wire loom before.

 

[XTC90BII]

You can get replacement bushing at O'reillys auto parts start. I would replace all 4 both doors and the rear hatch. They are 2 different sizes. The Door Striker Bolt kit part number 38445 from Dorman. The bushing kit part number for the lift hatch is 38424 again by Dorman.

Dennis

 

[EdRo]

Old thread, but I just faced this problem today. I'm not recommending this, but I did this...

I took the striker bolt and washer to my vice, hammered the bolt out of the washer, replaced the bushing, hammered washer back on, reinstalled. Threads were buggered up, but it worked on both sides. Seems much better now.

Ymmv

 

[tw205]

Adjustment for the bolt is the bolt. Loosen it. You will see it moves around. Move it in small increments tighten and test.