2004 Prius tail gate / hatch pull / handle fix

[Daox]

For a while now, the pull / switch on my Prius' tail gate has been a bit spongy. I figured the bolts came loose, or some plastic bits have broken over time. We do tend to use the hatch a good amount. I figure this is probably a fairly common issue though, so I figure I would post it here. I didn't take too many pictures, but its not too involved.

I started by removing the pull. If you pop the hatch open, just pull on the lower plastic cover. It has plastic pop rivets that just pull out. Work your way around the cover. With the cover off, you will find 4 studs with 10mm nuts on them. These hold the pull on to the tail gate. Remove them. In my case, I had to remove 2, then my pull fell clean off. The other two (center ones) had busted clean off. I disconnected the electrical connector, and pulled out the grommet to remove the pull.

Hey look, its me.





I grabbed a vise grips, and held the screw heads while removing the rest of the nuts.

With the pull removed, I cleaned up the areas where I was going to reattach the broken pieces. I did this with some rubbing alcohol and a toothbrush. I rinsed it with water to make sure the joint was clean before repairing it.

The tool of fix for this project was JB weld. The pieces fit pretty well back into the place they had broken off of. I also added a bit more glue to reinforce the area.





I actually also busted off one of the end pieces while removing the pull as well. So I reattached it, and while I was at it, I also added some glue around the other one to make sure it never happened to that one too.





Assembly is simply reverse of removal. Be careful not to tighten the 10mm nuts too much as it'll crack the plastic again and lead to the same issue.

I'm not sure how pricey these rear pieces are, but I didn't want to bother ordering one. I think the JB weld will hold great and I don't anticipate any future issues with this as I think it'll be stronger than it was to begin with.

[Daox]

Well, it seems my repair wasn't as high of quality as I expected. The hatch lift has again busted at least two of the studs off. I'll have to remove it and try again. This time I'll be a bit more generous with the JB weld.

[vskid3]

Are you lifting the hatch by the plastic or the metal? In the summer, I only have to lift mine a few inches before the struts do most of the work. When it's cold, though, I lift the hatch using the plastic just enough to reach under the hatch and lift by the metal because the struts are no help.

[Daox]

I lift it by the handle.

What I've found is the weather stripping seems to stick to the hatch/body. You can hear it peal off the metal. Once it releases, it opens quite easily, but that initial bit can take a bit of pulling.