As most of you know already the 97-03 F150 (f250/f350 etc also) tailgate handles are pure junk and tend to break alot. Well heres how to swap em out. Hope this helps somebody out. Its very easy. Tools Needed: T30 Torque socket Rachet Flathead screwdriver 10mm socket If equipped with a plastic drop in bedliner start by taking the liner off the tailgate, on my truck it had some 1/4 head screws somebody put in it and 4 t30 torque screws. Remove them and set the liner to the side. Then you will see several t30 torque screws holding the cover on the backside of the tailgate , remove them and set the cover to the side out of the way. Then you will see 2 10mm nuts , remove them and take the tailgate handle out of the tailgate. If equipped with a locking handle take a screwdriver and pop the c clip holding the lock in off. And put the lock in the new handle and push the clip back on. Then put the new handle in and put the nuts back on and tighten carefully not to bust the plastic. Then put the cover back on and put the liner back on and your done.
Yea its my old green truck my grandaddy has now and he broke the handle off, so i bought a new one off amazon for $4 and put it on for him.
dont have a f150 but somebody ran into my tailgate and the handle if like hanging out...figure its basically the same mechanism so i might look into changing it later on down the road
I want to take my Handel out and put one in with a camera, and also tere is a way to put a actuator on it that you can wire into the system and it will lock/ unlock the talegate with all the doors. J.Wal
