investinwaffles

Cherokee Forum,
This is the third time my damn trunk latch has "let go" (literally), and is now stuck shut.

I am getting tired of shoehorning myself into the back, next to a 33" spare and a subwoofer to shove my hand in-between the trim every 6 months or so.

The last time I tried using zip ties to keep the stupid threaded rod clamped to the stupid "v" shaped metal clamp thing that was supposed to hold the rod in place.

To be honest, I think I only used one ziptie and may have done a poor job overall because I also tried to re-tension the metal clamps for a more secure fit thinking that was the sure fix.


Who has dealt with this in the past, and how did you permanently fix it? I was thinking about either JB Welding the **** out of it, and using some actual lock-nuts to "sandwich" the threaded rod and the metal clamps together, but I dont know if it is currently slipping through the metal clamps, or if the rod is now hanging freely which I dont think locknuts would help with.

Just thinking out loud, I am going to pull it apart again this evening and see if I can fix it permanently....

Little Red XJ

Mine slips every so often,i have to smack the liftgate to the right of the handle while opening. I am going to use nuts to clamp to the piece the rod attatches to, but waiting for warmer weather(no heated garage to work in).

I thing it is jumping threads after alot of uses.

investinwaffles

I am pretty sure mine does the same, but at this point I think the metal is too weak to bend the metal retention thingy back in shape and hope that it holds.

I am going to try some loctite red and some locknuts/washers/bolts to sandwich the whole deal.

Its finally above freezing in CO but I might end up needing to work late again so this may end up waiting until the weekend

I will take post some pics of my solution if I get it done anytime in the near future though...

XJlimitedx99

I used a zip tie on mine and it's been fine for awhile now.

jeeperreaper

I JB welded mine, worked great and it has held up for quite a few years