RJK

2008 Suburban

I let a friend borrow my suburban to take his daughter to college I explained to him use the button to open and close the rear lift gate. Well I think they just slammed it closed and now it doesn't work. The overhead switch is in the on position it will not open from that switch the button on the keyless remote or the button on the lift gate under the license plate. Is there a reset or something or by forcing it closed did they strip a gear or something any help/ideas would be great.
Thank you

73shark

I've closed mine manually before and nothing broke. I suspect it has a slip clutch to prevent gear strippage.

I have heard of folks having problems w/ the latch tho. Might search the forum for that.

Joe In NY

You can do it manually anytime. problem is, the stupid latch. Its over complicated for no reason what so ever. Same thing happened to me, makes noise nothing happens. Only, sometime it refused to unlatch and sometime lock! It opened its self when I was on the highway! #$%&!!! Boy I was pissed! Had a full trunk load as we were going to the lake. I sure was a happy camper...

You need a new latch, about $400 up north, and impossible to get. Down south, much cheaper and readily available.

RJK

Is this the latch your talking about part# 13581405 looks like this?

Joe In NY

thats it, of course there is only one plastic gear in the middle of metal gears, and it strips....

RJK

So do you think the gear is stripped or the latch is bad?

Thanks

Joe In NY

just replace the latch. and all will be good

RJK

Do you have any tips on replacing the latch? how does the door/hatch panel come off?

hjprice07hoe

It's pretty simple. Remove the screw under the leather handle pull and the one on the handle on the bottom of the door. Then you need to pry off the upper trim panel at the sides. No need to take it all off, just enough to get to the lower panel off. It's easiest to start on the sides and work your way down and around. Again I didn't take it all the way off, just enough to get to the 3 screws holding the latch in place.

I just replaced mine recently, however, mine will still not open by itself and when trying to close it automatically, it will only go about a 1/3 of the way. Anyone else have this issue?

gruvenparts.com

FYI - GruvenParts.com is now making a metal replacement gear for these lift gate actuators. The rest of the unit is pretty reliable but the big plastic gear strips out easily.

I'll be done in a month or 2 with a brass version so you dont need to buy the entire unit, you will be able to just save existing unit and upgrade it with a new brass gear.

Thanks,

Paul@GruvenParts.com