Metallic rattle from rear/tailgate

[beast1986]

Hey all, recently picked up a 24 Lightning XLT and the truck has been incredible except one annoying rattle that seems to be coming from the rear of the truck. It’s a metallic tinking/clinking sound that’s very faint, so faint I initially thought the sound was coming from other vehicles around me.

It occurs mostly at low speeds while hitting sharp small bumps in the road. I tried greasing the tailgate latches as well as the tailgate step latch but so far it persists.

I did find that rapping the top of the tailgate where the step is with my fist produces a somewhat similar rattling sound. Right now I’m trying to figure out how to isolate that as the cause but it’s hard to get that step feeling solid while retracted. I did find someone else who used Velcro strips on the main step bars to provide some insulation between the bars and their tracks so I think I’ll try that today and see how it goes.

In the meantime, has anyone else here experienced a similar rattle and found a solution? Shame for such a quiet and solid feeling truck to produce such an annoying sound, I’d love to get this figured out!

Thank you!

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[JohnsonEJ23]

I have a '23 Lariat and there is a rubber bumper piece on each side where the tailgate closes. When the tailgate is closed, it sits between the tailgate and the side of the bed. One of them is really loose and has fallen out once. By chance are you missing one or both of those?

 

[beast1986]

I have a '23 Lariat and there is a rubber bumper piece on each side where the tailgate closes. When the tailgate is closed, it sits between the tailgate and the side of the bed. One of them is really loose and has fallen out once. By chance are you missing one or both of those?

Hey thanks for the suggestion. Those rubber stoppers are still intact. The tailgate itself feels very solid when closed, it doesn’t seem to shift or be loose in any way.

I ended up trying the Velcro on the step rail bars and while it did make the step feel more secure in the rails, it didn’t seem to do anything for this rattle unfortunately.

Still searching!

 

[Grumpy2]

To help isolate the sound, have you driven the same route with the tailgate down?

 

[Henry Ford]

I've not heard what you describe but it occurred to me that I've always had a tonneau cover. So...uh...get a tonneau cover?

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