cherokee92

I tried to take the panel off and found that the plastic plugs do not want to come out without breaking. Is there anyway to do this? Also found rust under bottom trim to deck area and will have to replace screws and clean up rust soon. Any ideas?

winston427

There will be 2 possibly 4 screws on the panel. Remove those and pry the cover off carefully starting at the bottom on either side. There are plastic retainers that push into the liftgate itself that will need to be pull out as the cover comes off. The cove becomes brittle with age and the mounting locations for the retainers will break easily. Once all the retainers are loose, push the cover upwards toward the roof. There is a lip that slides down into the rear window channel.

RICZR2

The plastic plugs do tend to break easy but can be found at most auto stores....make sure you get the correct ones since there are a few diffwent sizes. If you can't tolerate them braking and buying new ones then try using a pair of needle nose pliers with a "nose" on each side of the plug and pry....this may or may not stop the plugs from breaking but it's better then just yanking them out.

winston427

As far as the rust at the liftgate latch is concerned, check the seal around the rear glass at the top. If it will push away from the hatch then check this thread, it is a simple fix most of the time.

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/lea...h-glass-14635/

cherokee92

One of the plugs had been hard to pull out and broke one of the retainers on the panel. I did manage to get three of them lose and gave up due to the breakage. I will try again tomorrow and use your sugggestions. I will also look at the rear window seal but, figure it is due to age as well. I have a 1992 xj that was not taken care of by the last PO (whoever that may have been). I will use clr to clean the rust and then a wire brush. I will also get some rust inhibitar and see if I can get the rust off the bottom of the deck area. For the most part the only rust is on the bottom of the doors and the rocker panals. Normal I think for the xj. Thanks. I did think of using needle nose plyers but had to quit working on it for today. I manily want to check my rear wiper motor. I did check the relay switch in the dash and figure it is the rear motor. I will save replacing it from a bone yard next spring.