Rear Door/Hatch Creak

Has anybody noticed how much creaking and noise the rear hatch makes whenever you turn up/out of a curb or a small incline or when you take a turn a bit faster than normal?

every time I pull in/out of my driveway that darn hatch creaks like crazy. Initially, i though that the whole truck was making the noise but when i isolated it in the back and drove in and out of my driveway with the hatch fully opened, the creaks and noises are now gone

do i need to re-align my rear hatch? it's perfectly level and opens/closes easily and no, it is not loose at the latch.

one more thing i noticed is how much the rear frame flexed when midway up any driveway and can be seen by the significant gap change between the bottom of the hatch and the bumper. Is there any frame brace that we can install to minimize the insane rear frame flex? there's not much bracing under there besides the small stock crossbrace, rear bumper and the hitch i have.

 

[Joe Dirt]

Nope, grab some new polyurethane striker latch bushings from the 'Help!' section at your local auto parts store. Replace both and your noise will be gone...

 

[Trolling]

i'll try that out Joe.

i think i remember seeing a thread about using a similar plastic pipe material from lowes/homedepot and cutting it to size. it must be here somewhere..

post up if you can find the thread as i'm a bit slow at it

 

[Trolling]

found some info but need it to be confirmed:

here's a website with the striker bushing specs:

here's the thread i was talking about with the PEX tube from the hardware:
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2135848&postcount=5

 

[Joe Dirt]

I did see that thread, but the 4 pack (2 short and 2 long is like $5 at AutoZone or O'reilly's) I just didn't think it was worth the hassle of buying, cutting, trimming, etc. and these are perfectly sized already...

When you remove yours, the striker threads into a tension nut. Make sure the tension nut doesn't spin out of the retainers that hold it to the side of the truck. (You'll see what I mean, there are some little ears there- pull your taillights off to see it and hold the "nut" from the back for extra protection...)

 

[Trolling]

Ive read that the rear hatch and the 4 doors have different sized bushings. do you happen to have the part number of the "Help!" bushings?

I've removed the striker bolt a few times before to detail the surface around it and i haven't had a nut fall out of place yet.

 

[Joe Dirt]

The hatch is a different size from the doors. The hatch kit is the Dorman HELP! 38424 Assorted Tailgate Striker Bolt Bushing Kit. The doors I've always just replaced the whole bolt if needed, they're about $6 at my local parts shop...

Cool on the nut, depends on how much the threads are rusted as to if the nut will spin, sounds like you're in good shape there.

 

[Trolling]

got the hatch striker bushing replaced and it did minimize the creaking.

but i can't find any bushings for the side doors. i've been to autozone, pepboys and napa and they all carry the hatch bushings only.

 

[Joe Dirt]

You won't find them separate... You can go the cut yourself route, but I just replaced the striker bolts. The bolts in the Help section are like $6 each, I just bought 4 and replaced all of them.