Tailgate hard to lift

[Shumax2]

Recently I have noticed the tailgate is harder to lift. It has a gas assist shock behind the taillight.
Has anyone replaced this shock?

 

[Rick3478]

The "shock" is a damper to resist fast movement. I don't think it does any "assist". You may be developing rust in the hinges. Or maybe you made the tailgate heavier by adding a liner, rug, light bar? Or maybe it's just life, I've noticed my basement stairs are a lot steeper than they used to be.

 

[kapinallinen2]

Recently I have noticed the tailgate is harder to lift. It has a gas assist shock behind the taillight.
Has anyone replaced this shock?

You are the first one that I have seen reporting this with a failing gas strut.
Most likely/hoping for it to be a generic strut available online.
Alldata shows it as an item #3 but no P/N.

 

[kzielu]

Not sure how RAM does it but Ford has a long rod inside the tailgate (it is basically the length of the tailgate) that is getting twisted when you open it and untwists itself when you close (which is what provides the lift assistance - it's not the gas shock which acts just as a damper, it actually would provide resistance when being closed) - it is basically a torsional spring.

Typical failure mode there is the block holding the end of this rod failing and not holding it. Could be the same case here and it is major pain in the *** to fix (ask me how I know....)

 

[bigdodge]

Does your truck have hidden tail gate damper mounts too?

I was changing out the reverse bulbs and noticed this on the passenger side. It looks like it's a mount for a strut to dampen the tailgate. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

5thgenrams.com

 

[HSKR R/T]

The "shock" is a damper to resist fast movement. I don't think it does any "assist". You may be developing rust in the hinges. Or maybe you made the tailgate heavier by adding a liner, rug, light bar? Or maybe it's just life, I've noticed my basement stairs are a lot steeper than they used to be.

It also assists in lifting/closing