I have a brand new (500 mi) Ram 1500 QC Hemi and my tailgate won't latch. It got down to below zero and my truck sets out so maybe something froze up. However, I have owned 4 Dakotas and have never had this problem. I have been driving around with my tailgate down. Any suggestions ? I don't have time to take it to the dealer right now. Anyone else have this problem ? Thanks!

 

you might try spraying some wd-40 on the latches coming out of the tailgate. It sounds like something is broke though, because I can't imagine both latches freezing at the same time. Just a thought, not sure if this will work or not. Has it been above freezing since it froze? I know its been 20 or below around here for several days.....

 

I have the exact same problem. 660 miles on mine

Gets lower than -10 F, and that baby doesn't want to latch. It's the weirdest thing. I had the shop guys look at it (it actually took both of us pressing all our weight on it to get it to latch) and he was clueless as to what it might be. The latches activate fine (just use a screwdriver or something), but when that metal hits metal, that thing doesn't want to close up.

The only solution he offered was to possibly move the latch triggers back a little bit, but that seemed like an awful lot of hassle. So, got it closed and haven't opened it up again until warms up!

 

I will attempt to explain. There are two little locking teeth (one on each side) that when they get cold/older without lubricantthe mechanism stiffens up and they cause the tailgate not to latch. Go try to slide them forwards or backwards (i forget which way). See it it works

 

I had the same problem with my 02' 1500, it was getting to be around -20 or so up here in AK and i would just have to close it a couple times before getting it to latch, but unlike your trucks, mine has over 130,000 miles on it...