I have a very loud tailgate, it rattles when the car hits road bumps, basically the tailgate rattles when the Jeep is driving on any surface other than a freshly paved tar road (we all know how nice those are :3). Nothing appears to be loose so I wasn't quite sure where to start with this problem, the tailgate opens and closes fine.

 

Get used to it my friend,that's a jeep for ya. You could fill it with great stuff foam,I did it to dampen the cab noise and it made the door so heavy that it no longer rattles.

 

So are you telling me there is nothing I can check to reduce the noise? I feel like the foam would cause problems with the internal locking mechanisms...

 

This may not apply to you, but something you might wanna check out if you still have it attached...your rear sway bar, maybe it broke and it is banging up against the bottom of the jeep, when i bought my XJ i heard rattling and banging thought it was tailgate looked under and notice my rear sway bar was broken out of the "brace" that holds it to the leaf springs...i took it out eventually but if you still have yours attached check it out...

 

I guess you could adjust the little rubber door stops out so the door can barely close tight,that way there is constant pressure on it and its not so bad. I tool the hatch panel off when I did it and blocked off the opening mechanisms with little pieces of wood then foamed around it. Used about 4 cans of that great stuff,let it set for overnight then put it back together. If you do it have lots of rags on hand its really messy.

 

Haha, My Jeep makes so many noises, if I tried to find and fix them all... I'd rather spend my time fixing things that matter! Good Luck!

 

I had the same problem with rattling tailgates on both of my jeeps. If you look at the bottom of the door opening you will see that the lock pin is quite worn and the extra space, when the hatch is closed, is the cause of the rattling Go to the dealer and buy a new lock pin or if you don't want to spend the money you can wrap electrical tape around the pin. As it happens, the narrow part of the pin is the exact width of a roll of electrical tape. The bad thing about using tape is it will make the tailgate harder to open

 

Had the same problem. $ 35.00 from teamcherokee.com. Latch and post is all you need. Tried filling the groove on the post with weld but it still wore away pretty quick. Plus the lever that grabs the post gets worn as well.

 

Thankyou, I will go ahead and replace the lock pin as well as the rubber stoppers because both are pretty worn away.

 

So just to find out, I filled my deteriorate rubber door shocks (those rubber things that the liftgate hits when it closes) with a black rubber sealant, allowed it to tray and then I took my XJ for a drive and low and behold all rattleing has ceased. I will have to see If it can still get new replacements for these, if not im gonna need to stock up on rubber sealant >.> Does anyone have any idea what these rubber things are actually called?

 

Loosen the two torx drive bolts that hold the lockpin plate, the plate will slide forward to tighten up that door on closing, else pull the two bolts and rotate the plate completly to the non worn side.

 

O.O you just made my world not only has changeing the rubber thingies helped but doing this suggestion fixed it all ^-^ now I no longer have to fear gravel roads!