Dirt Getting Inside of Tailgate

Has anyone had issues with getting dirt inside of the tailgate? I hauled a load of dirt and once I unloaded and sprayed out the bed, muddy water began dripping from the tailgate handle and painted plastic trim. I removed the black, top, cap and found some dirt. I cleaned that off and tried spraying out the inside of the gate, through the exposed holes but I still get muddy water dripping down the outside of the tailgate.

My guess is that the dirt came from sweeping out the last remaining dirt from the bed, over the open tail gate.

I assume I can pull the painted trim off as well but before I do that, how can I prevent it from happening again? I tried searching but all I find are people discussing sealing around the tailgate to prevent dust getting inside the bed. Has anyone tried sealing under the plastic trim cap.

The attached picture is after trying to wash out the inside of the tailgate.

 

I don't have a 3rd Gen, but it probably still applies since there always seems to be a gap at the bottom of the tailgate liners. Whenever I hose out the bed, I always keep the tailgate up to prevent all the water from getting underneath there especially considering the backup camera is in there. I hose everything to the back and all the stuff that doesn't get washed out between the bed and tailgate, I just pull out by hand. But that's just me.

 

Remove the panel on the inside of the tailgate and see what’s going on.
When body panels are designed properly, there is an understanding that water (or dirt in your case) will inevitably get in- and it will also need a way to get out.
Make sure you don’t block or seal any opportunity for drainage.
Next time you haul dirt, let the bed dry naturally after emptying it. Sweeping it after that won’t force it into your tailgate.

 

Yep, this happened to me last summer. I hauled 12 yards of top soil(3/4 yard at a time) and I had the exact same thing happen. I blew everything off with an air compressor and then pressure washed it a few times. It finds its way out eventually.

 

Not the tailgate but. I sprayed my truck off yesterday and kept getting muddy water running out of the front of the front fender flare.

 

I took my front flares off yesterday while taking the front off to install my lightbar.

There was about 3” inches of muddy dust trapped at the bottom of the flares. It seems that there are many places to store dirt on our trucks!

 

I wanted to post an update to my original problem. I had to haul another yard of dirt plus another load of a pallet of sod. Once all done, I made sure to sweep off the tailgate by sweeping back towards the truck bed, not right off of the end. I also kept the tailgate up, as @TILLY suggested, when pressure washing the bed out. This method was successful, there was no more muddy water draining from the top of the tailgate.