23 Tundra Tailgate misaligned?

Hey everyone. New member who has been roaming for a while. I recently got a new Tundra and love it. Today while working around the tailgate I did notice that the gap on the left side was greater than the one on the right. There is no rub, though, and no marks of paint coming off. Just the mere fact that it isn’t perfectly even.

I am not sure if others have noticed gaps on the tailgate and whether these gaps are within tolerances. I am worried about going back to the dealer and an attempt at fixing it might make it worse.

Let me know your thoughts.

 

That definitely needs to be fixed under warranty. Seems a bit too much gap.

 

I dreaded that. I am attaching two photos, now from the top, which I think continues to confirm the issue.

 

Does anyone have any instructions or manuals online of how to do this on your own?

 

There’s a hinge on each side. Most have a cup on one side and a cup with an open notch on the other to be able to remove the tailgate. There’s some left to right play in most. Are you able to slide it side to side any? Or is it pretty solid?

 

Mine is exactly the same, left side bigger gap than right. — here’s write up from dealership WO.

Looked at new trucks on the lot and they were all unevenly gapped(left bigger). I’ve also removed my tailgate(which was extremely easy), to see if any adjustments are possible. Unfortunately, there is nothing that I could see.

 

I looked earlier to disassemble, but need to continue studying it to figure out it. In terms of side-to-side, do not notice any play at all. Pretty solid.

 

This is bitter sweet in some way. I was worried this would be exactly the response from the dealer. I guess the sweet part is that it seems like it may be within Toyota's tolerances if they are seeing it in other trucks. Do you have photos you could share just to compare? Also and out of curiosity, is the side with the larger gap on the left? Wondering if there is some consistency in terms of misalignment.

 

Wow! Thanks for posting. I am shocked at the similarities between your truck and mine. It is pretty much identical.

 

Yes, it's called the stealership!
For sure,that's all on them they gotta own up to that and compensate you for your lost down time,I'm thinking a tank full of petro would be a good start.

 

I already said left side. I’ll snag some pics tomorrow, but in all honesty seems like a waste of time as it looks identical to your truck, if not worse. I’m honestly surprised more people don’t notice this. I looked at 6-8 new trucks on the lot and even out in the wild they all are uneven(left gap bigger). Also, on lighter colored trucks it’s definitely seems way more noticeable by eye.

 

Your tail lights are all bust up and your paintwork scratched to blazes like his? I think he's taking the mickey, look at the state of his truck.

 

Mine are almost perfectly the same , guess i got lucky , no friday build , ha

 

Good to know. I was thinking of looking at some in the wild as well if I went to the dealer. I will still mention it to them to see what they say, but I totally expect them to just say "nothing wrong with it."

 

You mean the other guy. I don't have a busted taillight.

 

Speaking seriously, it looks from the photos as if the gap is acceptable down lower where the lights are but flares out at the top and is overly wide on both sides. If that's the case I wouldn't much fancy trying to close that gap up as it would mean narrowing the distance by pinching the bed sides.

 

Yup, I did mean him, you said yours was identical. Don't mind me, I was being an ass.

 

lol

 

Photos I took weren't good and I can take better ones tomorrow, but it seems like the gap is even from bottom to top on both sides, just that the gap is bigger on the left side.

 

thought this was pretty common, I saw it covered in one of the "buying new 22 tundra what to check for qc" the video had a spec on the gap spacing and if it falls within that spec then the dealership wont do much

 

Just went to YouTube and tried to find the video with no luck. Do you happen to have a link? Thanks.

 

1-2mm? I'd be buying a cheap caliper and measuring that in front of the dealer. If yours is as bad as the OP, that dealer needs their eyes checked.

 

Another poster said there was a 1-2mm difference. For me, I just measured it and it is more than that. Take a look:

 

I got lucky, as well. The gaps on my tailgate are identical on each side. Now, if only a manufacture would figure out how to properly seal the tailgate so that dust doesn't collect in the bed.

The only body lines that I'm not happy with on my truck are between the hood and the "mustache". The gap is noticeably wider on the driver's side.

 

Mine in inches is .49 Port and .39 Starboard on the top piece of trim. Vertically bed to tall gate it's .35" on both sides and the same clearance top to bottom. I'm actually a little surprised. I live on a very step paved road that twists the truck pretty good going around the turns. Lifts the inside rear wheel. I would have expected some torquing on the end of the bed.

 

The tail gate trim piece still running off paint? That still a thing on these?

 

Trying to make sense of that. When you convert inches to mm, which is what I used to measure, our top measurements are almost on point with each other.

So, for me, I got on the left 12.45mm measuring from the top and on the right, 8.26mm.

If I convert your inches to mm, you get 12.46mm on the right and 9.9mm on the left.

 

I had seen that somewhere else, but I haven't experienced that.

 

what do you mean ?

 

Price that runs across the tailgate (on platinum it’s black)