Thinking of a spray in liner? Read this first...

I apologize in advance if this should be posted in a different sub-forum. Mods, move it it needs to be moved.

I've had my Tundra since just before Thanksgiving. I've only been driving it on weekends mainly because I have a car for work. I noticed a week after buying it that the tail gate latch was somewhat "mushy" and difficult to pull up to open. I tried turning the key one way and then the other with attempts each time and it honestly felt the same each time. It ended up opening one day after I turned the key so I haven't turned the key anymore since then. I have to yank it up and out to get it to open, as if I had to sneak up on it and "GOTCHA!!". I also noticed that the tailgate soft open feature didn't really seem to work that well. I researched that on this forum and read about the strut replacement and figured that'd have to be done as well. So I set those items aside on a running list of things to do when I had the chance.

This weekend I went to the dump to toss a mattress. When I got backed in by the dumpster the mattress was wedged in so I tried to open the tailgate. No luck. So I yanked on the handle and it broke.

I got home and opened the panel on the tailgate. I'm sorry, I know pictures mean alot to people on forums but I didn't think to get pics because this forum thing is fairly new to me. But it seems that when they sprayed the bed liner in, the opening on the tailgate to all those inner workings wasn't taped off. There was overspray on everything. All I had to do was rub a finger across a hard edge and entire chunks of dried bed liner would peel off. The lock mechanism was coated over as well as the moving parts that lock the tailgate. I peeled away alot of that and everything moved freely with much less resistance. Then I lifted and dropped the tailgate. It slowed and then bounced at the bottom but didn't slam. I could hear the strut working and saw that it actually worked pretty well. This was much different than with the cover plate installed.

So I ordered the new part and replaced the cover. With the cover on, it will slam open but not hard. I don't know if it's like that for all spray in bed liners but maybe mine was too thick? It was definitely what was mucking up my tailgate mechanism.

So if you're gonna get your bed sprayed, make sure the people who do it mask off the opening into the tailgate. I can't help with the weight of the bed liner though.

 

If you paid for the liner, I would definitely get ahold of the company who did it to let them know that they damaged your vehicle.

 

It was on it when I bought it.

 

I would add that depending on your environment I would inspect and lube as necessary... my tailgate snapped too, and I didn't have spray in liner... I lived in a desert area and the sand build up caused it to jam up and eventually snap... the spray in liner may have also added additional friction causing it to fail as well... seems like a rare thing as well, as its not widespread which leads me to believe its an environmental and case by case basis...

 

So it was just overspray? Crappy job by who applied it and not so much the liner itself.

my rhino lining is awesome

 

It was definitely over sprayed. I would think that the inherent properties of the liner material didn't help any more than the lazy person who couldn't spend one minute with masking tape and Sunday's paper. My lining is awesome too. I would never have another drop in on any of my trucks if I ever get another one.

 

About that....how slow is it supposed to drop? Like a bungee diver who's cord tenses up at the last minute or like a parachute? This is my first time with a truck that has this feature. It has 168k on it so it's reasonable to think there are several items that may need replacing right now.

 

Agreed 100% my dad had a drop in plastic Bed liner that caused rust. Back in the 90’s though.

did you buy the truck at a dealership? They might have done the Bed liner in-house to help value. Let them know

 

I bought it at a dealer but it has some signs of older use on it and some very slight fading on the tops of the wheel wells. According to Carfax and docs in the truck it seems that a company salesman or rep used it for a few years before I got it so who knows when it was installed.

 

bedliners are stupid.

 

I have a sprayed in liner on mine and no issues. The tailgate drops nicely and does not bounce at all. You can open the latch and let it go and it just drops slowly not harshly.