Thanks Brian. I was hoping I could just pop the shell piece off without taking the entire latch assembly off with it. There's a metal rattling sound at certain frequencies I am wanting to hit with some foam tape but I can't get to it with the bracket covering it.
Really? There was a guy who posted on here last year who said he removed it (I tried to message him but no reply) - the manual makes it look like it should just pop off...
Thanks Brian. Here's a pic. The workshop manual calls it the "tailgate latch bracket" - the cream colored plastic shell that houses the latch mechanism. It looks like there are little tabs to release it but I can't quite figure it out.