[HO455]

A new issue has shown up. At some point in the past the left side of the top edge of the tailgate was pushed in. I never noticed in during the paint prep part of the project. The result is that the weather strip around the lift gate doesn't touch on the one side. The gap is several inches long and about 3/16" at the large end. At the least this will allow exhaust fumes to come in from the back if I run the pipes out the rear and it will make things noisier. I didn't have a water problem in the back so I am hoping that will stay the same. I am going to have to find some kind of additional weather striping to seal it up. In a perfect world I would of noticed this and found a way to jack the area back into shape before painting. I will have to think about it and maybe have a plan for repair when I paint the interior. Just sharing this so some else doesn't make the same mistake. Or maybe someone has a way to jack the top back in place. I can see how the gate could easily get deformed if it gets hit when down or if someone were to toss a big beam in the back with the gate up. Hope the pictures help explain the issue. First photo is the good side, the 2nd is the bad side, the last one is the gap from the inside (which is how I noticed it).