Yet another tailgate rattle thread

[Brian_B]

I had another tailgate rattle pop up a couple of weeks ago. It's getting steadily worse.

It sounds like a loose bolt in a body panel, or maybe an electrical connector rubbing against a body panel. It occurs more with up/down motion than side to side. When I first heard it, I swore it was the jack rattling around under the cargo mat. A jiggle rattle when you hit a rough patch.

If i sit in the back going down the road (wife driving), I would swear it's coming from the center of the tailgate, but it wouldn't be the first time I swear a sound is coming from someplace and it's actually from somewhere totally different. I can't seem to affect it or cause/stop it by pushing/poking/prodding on stuff.

It's not the rubber seals - I've had that squeak and this isn't it., and I siliconed the seals anyway just in case. There is so much lithium grease inside this tailgate that it isn't funny.

I've pulled everything out of the back end that isn't stock. And pulled the jack and everything else as well.

I do have the Turn offroad tailgate hinge as well as the tire carrier. If i take the spare tire off, the rattle is diminished - it doesn't happen as often or as loud, but it's still there.

I pulled the tailgate hydraulic arm entirely off - no change in rattle.

Nothing is loose in the handle or on the latch pins. Bump stop is in the right spot and hitting. No change if I move the bump stop either.

Nothing inside the tailgate, I pulled the entire thing off and shook it around - nothing is loose inside of there, except the bridges that hold the hinge bolts in place -- they aren't broken and tighten up when the bolts tighten up on the hinges.

I pulled the spare tire carrier and inspected the vents in the rear - they all looked good, nothing busted up, and nothing up inside of there.

Stuck a boroscope in all the spots I could cram it into - don't see anything at all unusual. *Edit* also the wiring harnesses in the tailgate accessible from that rear panel for the TBL/Camera - all ziptied in place and nothing loose there.

I pulled the right taillight off and checked every single bolt on the tailgate and the TOR carrier - everything was taken off and put back on. Nothing was loose.

Checked everything up underneath - the rear shock mounts, the tracbar, the control arm bolts, etc.

Checked all the exhaust hangers. *Edit* And the heat shield over the muffler.

Pulled the windows out of the soft top and rolled the top all the way back - no change.

Next things to check:

I'm about to pull the soft top off for the winter (a couple of months early, but for troubleshooting). See if it does it with no top, and again with the hard top.

While I've got the top off, I can open up the rear cargo panels. The subwoofer and associated stuff on the passenger side, and I do have the OEM 4-pin trailer module that is up inside the driver's side quarter panel to check.

Will keep plugging at it until I figure it out - it's got me stumped though, I think I've touched every single bolt except whichever the one that's rattling is at.

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[PWillette]

By chance did you check the muffler shield located under the tool storage? Mine started to rattle shortly after purchase...I swore it was coming from the tailgate. I didn't actually find the cause until I removed the muffler to install the cat back exhaust. I ended up deleting the shield.

 

[BEW119]

I had another tailgate rattle pop up a couple of weeks ago. It's getting steadily worse.

It sounds like a loose bolt in a body panel, or maybe an electrical connector rubbing against a body panel. It occurs more with up/down motion than side to side. When I first heard it, I swore it was the jack rattling around under the cargo mat. A jiggle rattle when you hit a rough patch.

If i sit in the back going down the road (wife driving), I would swear it's coming from the center of the tailgate, but it wouldn't be the first time I swear a sound is coming from someplace and it's actually from somewhere totally different. I can't seem to affect it or cause/stop it by pushing/poking/prodding on stuff.

It's not the rubber seals - I've had that squeak and this isn't it., and I siliconed the seals anyway just in case. There is so much lithium grease inside this tailgate that it isn't funny.

I've pulled everything out of the back end that isn't stock. And pulled the jack and everything else as well.

I do have the Turn offroad tailgate hinge as well as the tire carrier. If i take the spare tire off, the rattle is diminished - it doesn't happen as often or as loud, but it's still there.

I pulled the tailgate hydraulic arm entirely off - no change in rattle.

Nothing is loose in the handle or on the latch pins. Bump stop is in the right spot and hitting. No change if I move the bump stop either.

Nothing inside the tailgate, I pulled the entire thing off and shook it around - nothing is loose inside of there, except the bridges that hold the hinge bolts in place -- they aren't broken and tighten up when the bolts tighten up on the hinges.

I pulled the spare tire carrier and inspected the vents in the rear - they all looked good, nothing busted up, and nothing up inside of there.

Stuck a boroscope in all the spots I could cram it into - don't see anything at all unusual.

I pulled the right taillight off and checked every single bolt on the tailgate and the TOR carrier - everything was taken off and put back on. Nothing was loose.

Checked everything up underneath - the rear shock mounts, the tracbar, the control arm bolts, etc.

Checked all the exhaust hangers.

Pulled the windows out of the soft top and rolled the top all the way back - no change.

Next things to check:

I'm about to pull the soft top off for the winter (a couple of months early, but for troubleshooting). See if it does it with no top, and again with the hard top.

While I've got the top off, I can open up the rear cargo panels. The subwoofer and associated stuff on the passenger side, and I do have the OEM 4-pin trailer module that is up inside the driver's side quarter panel to check.

Will keep plugging at it until I figure it out - it's got me stumped though, I think I've touched every single bolt except whichever the one that's rattling is at.

I have a similar rattle, can’t find anything, hope you find the answer.

 

[Ford Motor Company]

I had another tailgate rattle pop up a couple of weeks ago. It's getting steadily worse.

It sounds like a loose bolt in a body panel, or maybe an electrical connector rubbing against a body panel. It occurs more with up/down motion than side to side. When I first heard it, I swore it was the jack rattling around under the cargo mat. A jiggle rattle when you hit a rough patch.

If i sit in the back going down the road (wife driving), I would swear it's coming from the center of the tailgate, but it wouldn't be the first time I swear a sound is coming from someplace and it's actually from somewhere totally different. I can't seem to affect it or cause/stop it by pushing/poking/prodding on stuff.

It's not the rubber seals - I've had that squeak and this isn't it., and I siliconed the seals anyway just in case. There is so much lithium grease inside this tailgate that it isn't funny.

I've pulled everything out of the back end that isn't stock. And pulled the jack and everything else as well.

I do have the Turn offroad tailgate hinge as well as the tire carrier. If i take the spare tire off, the rattle is diminished - it doesn't happen as often or as loud, but it's still there.

I pulled the tailgate hydraulic arm entirely off - no change in rattle.

Nothing is loose in the handle or on the latch pins. Bump stop is in the right spot and hitting. No change if I move the bump stop either.

Nothing inside the tailgate, I pulled the entire thing off and shook it around - nothing is loose inside of there, except the bridges that hold the hinge bolts in place -- they aren't broken and tighten up when the bolts tighten up on the hinges.

I pulled the spare tire carrier and inspected the vents in the rear - they all looked good, nothing busted up, and nothing up inside of there.

Stuck a boroscope in all the spots I could cram it into - don't see anything at all unusual.

I pulled the right taillight off and checked every single bolt on the tailgate and the TOR carrier - everything was taken off and put back on. Nothing was loose.

Checked everything up underneath - the rear shock mounts, the tracbar, the control arm bolts, etc.

Checked all the exhaust hangers.

Pulled the windows out of the soft top and rolled the top all the way back - no change.

Next things to check:

I'm about to pull the soft top off for the winter (a couple of months early, but for troubleshooting). See if it does it with no top, and again with the hard top.

While I've got the top off, I can open up the rear cargo panels. The subwoofer and associated stuff on the passenger side, and I do have the OEM 4-pin trailer module that is up inside the driver's side quarter panel to check.

Will keep plugging at it until I figure it out - it's got me stumped though, I think I've touched every single bolt except whichever the one that's rattling is at.

Hi there! Will you send us a message with your VIN and your local Ford dealer? I can look into things on my end.

 

[Brian_B]

By chance did you check the muffler shield located under the tool storage? Mine started to rattle shortly after purchase...I swore it was coming from the tailgate. I didn't actually find the cause until I removed the muffler to install the cat back exhaust. I ended up deleting the shield.

Have not - will check that!

 

[Brian_B]

By chance did you check the muffler shield located under the tool storage? Mine started to rattle shortly after purchase...I swore it was coming from the tailgate. I didn't actually find the cause until I removed the muffler to install the cat back exhaust. I ended up deleting the shield.

Checked this out this afternoon - was a great idea. But nothing loose there. I could see where my muffler has slammed the shield up against the body so it maybe could rattle - there doesn't seem to be anything in the middle and it's a long, thin, flimsy piece of aluminum or something. Bent it back out away from the body panel and...

Rattle persists.

 

[Brian_B]

I do have the Mountains 2 Metal tailgate limiter. I thought it could easily be the hydraulic ram rattling around like a worn pivot, or something loose with that limiter (the install on the drivers side is just a really long bolt with a big piece of aluminium plate)

When I went to go pull it out, I did see it was causing the ram to drag against the top of my bumper - so there's a worn spot in the plastic of the bumper, and it's worn the paint off the ram on the bottom. Probably because the limiter is about 3/4" thicker than the stock mounting location and causes the ram to angle downwards a bit - nothing drastic, but notable.

But - removing all of that, no change. Rattle persists.

Also have the Turn Offroad tailgate table. It's installed with rivet nuts in the vent slots on the tailgate. I thought maybe one of the rivet nuts had worked loose or come out. TOR supplies this really nice closed foam gasket that goes behind the table to keep it from rattling around, but nothing really for the rivet nuts, and they don't fit in those slots quite as nice as they would a purpose-drilled hole. Removed all of that - nope, nada. Rattle persists.

The rivet nuts were all still tight, the bolts were holding tight, nothing looked bad there. The closed foam gasket has more or less glued itself to my tailgate though, making it difficult to see anything behind it. I didn't pull it off for fear of ripping it up, but I may go back in this weekend and poke more holes through it and see if I can see the back side of those bridges holding the nuts for the tailgate hinges and maybe spray more lithium in an attempt to at least assuage my insanity by doing something, even if I know it isn't going to help.

 

[CUPRA]

Is there any play in the soft top at all? We had a persistent rattle back there. There are adjusters on the soft top when it is back/folded all the way that limit the movement of the soft top mechanism up and down. It would click and rattle. Once they were adjusted and tightened up, they pressed against the arms of the soft top and it made it stop. You can adjust them up and down.

 

[Brian_B]

Is there any play in the soft top at all?

Good suggestion - I'll check that out tomorrow when I can roll the top all the way back. Thanks!

I will say - just reading through your suggestion at first glance, it sounds like your rattle was only with the top back, whereas mine is no matter what position the top is in. But I may be misunderstanding and still plan to look at it.

 

[CUPRA]

I will say - just reading through your suggestion at first glance, it sounds like your rattle was only with the top back, whereas mine is no matter what position the top is in. But I may be misunderstanding and still plan to look at it.

Yeah, you’re right, it’s a soft top down scenario. Have you checked or adjusted the bump stop on the side nearest the handle? You can twist it (screw it in or out) to adjust the play between the latch and the door.

Alternatively, have you checked to see if your latch is all tightened down?

 

[Brian_B]

Yeah, you’re right, it’s a soft top down scenario. Have you checked or adjusted the bump stop on the side nearest the handle? You can twist it (screw it in or out) to adjust the play between the latch and the door.

Alternatively, have you checked to see if your latch is all tightened down?

Yup did all of that - good things to check though.

I did go out and look - the passenger latch where the soft top hatch locks is was misadjusted. Tightened it up - that did help some! But the rattle is still there.

… but maybe it’s soft top related!

I will continue searching

 

[Brian_B]

@CUPRA
Also I like those cargo side wall protectors in your pics!

 

[CUPRA]

@CUPRA
Also I like those cargo side wall protectors in your pics!

Thanks! They’re great, should have done them way sooner! There’s a link to them in the video description.

 

[Brian_B]

I did go out and look - the passenger latch where the soft top hatch locks is was misadjusted. Tightened it up - that did help some! But the rattle is still there.

Well, I had thought it had helped, but driving back home from work last night and it was just as bad as ever, so... maybe not releated.

Reading other tailgate threads, I put the spare tire bumpers back in and got them lined up. That may have helped some - but the rattle was definitely still there.

I had to pull a trailer down to the office this morning. My wife was going in with me for free lunch. Neither of us noticed the rattle at all with the trailer on there. Wasn't a lot of weight, just some empty water tanks. And I wouldn't swear it wasn't there, we had the windows down, but it's usually pretty darn noticable, and neither of us noticed it.

Got the trailer dropped off, it was definitely still there when we pulled out.

So I don't know if that trailer thing was another placebo effect or not - or what it would indicate if it was an actual symptom. I have checked the hitch mounting, but I didn't go through all the bolts on the rear bumper. I did check all the body bolts on the rear end, none of them were loose. Can't really think of anything else - just really dreading/wanting to avoid tearing those panels back off the rear cargo area, I seem to break something every single time and I've had it on and off a lot already - one of these days it's just not going back on.

 

[Area51BS]

I have to get around to fixing mine. My subwoofer rattles the tailgate. Not a tailgate mounted sub. Quick check has me looking at the spare tire mount. I get the rattle closing the door, but no rattle if spare is off. Some day I’ll fix it.

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