strike plate/arm not clicking together

I recently bought a 96 2wd rodeo and so far it's been running really well. The only problem I'm having is that when I bought it the arm holding the spare was tied onto the plate with bungee cords as the metal on the plate was bent so not clicking into place. I replaced the plate but within a few weeks this too was bent and splitting. My strike arm is again held in place with bungee cords which means I can't open up the back without it being a major hassle. Any suggestions?

Sounds like 2 possibilities, one is that the tire carrier used on the 96-97 model years, maybe other years too, I'm not positive, clicks twice before being fully closed/latched. Some people, my family members included, when they close those carriers, they do it very delicately, thus, only 1 click has occured.

When driving/bouncing down the road with only 1 click, it's very likely, over time, that that carrier is being destroyed by the weight of the spare. I can easily see where this can happen over time, just by having a carrier on my own truck with a 16" spare.

Granted, I don't slam mine shut, but I do give it a pretty good push and I pull back on it to make sure it's clicked twice. Sometimes, you won't actually hear the "clicking" twice - but you'll know when it's closed.

Another possibility is perhaps the original owner either backed into something, or someone backed into him, shoving that carrier out of alignment and preventing it from closing right - thus leading to the weight of the tire being all on the arm rather then assisted by the tailgate.

I recently bought a 96 2wd rodeo and so far it's been running really well. The only problem I'm having is that when I bought it the arm holding the spare was tied onto the plate with bungee cords as the metal on the plate was bent so not clicking into place. I replaced the plate but within a few weeks this too was bent and splitting. My strike arm is again held in place with bungee cords which means I can't open up the back without it being a major hassle. Any suggestions?


hey,

thanks for the reply, I went on holiday and then forgot my login for a while....

Thanks for the advice - I think someone may have backed into it at one point, as after a further look, it definetly looks out of line. The strike arm is way lower than the strike plate, requiring a heave up to close it which can't be normal. I think I may have to replace the whole thing...