Rear Hatch / Liftgate Adjustment

[TMXONR]

I have noticed that water likes to get into the back of my XJ. I did some reading and found that the rear glass seal may be off and letting water in, well that was part of the problem so I fixed that. The next thing that I noticed was that my hatch closes more on one side than the other. It has been like this for a long time, I just never messed with it until today, when I noticed that the seal isn't making contact with the hatch on the side that doesn't close all the way.

Lots of searching suggests that the striker pin needs to be adjusted. Well, I moved that to the point where I almost have to slam the hatch down to get it to close, and there is no change in the gap. I am trying to find out how to adjust the hinges. I tried removing one of the shims on the hatch part of the hinge, but that made little change. I have also tried adjusting the body side of the hinges, since they are in slotted holes. When I loosen the hinge bolts, I cannot get the hinge to slide towards the front of the Jeep. Does anyone have any ideas for how to fix this problem.

Here are some pics that show the difference between the two sides.

Passenger side, this is the side with the problem. The gap is large between the body and hatch, also the hinge sticks out past the body more that the hinge on the drivers side.

Drivers side, Small gap

 

[RCP Phx]

Could also be fluid from your rear wiper!

 

[TMXONR]

I don't have the rear wiper, and the fluid line to the back isn't connected to the bottle. I know that for sure one of the leaks is from the top of the rear glass, and the other leak is from the hatch not closing all of the way one side, because I can see light through the gap between the seal and hatch.

 

[ehall]

You need to open the hatch and prop it up with something (a ladder, whatever). Then loosen the bolts on the roof hinges, and you should be able to bump the hatch forward a bit. Tighten the nuts a little bit and use a dollar bill along the weatherstripping to check for snug. It will probably take multiple attempts to get it correct. When you think you've got it, close the hatch and spray it with a hose, then check the weatherstripping to see where water stopped.

On mine I also had a problem where the pinch seam has a couple of indented areas at the top which would keep it loose in those two spots even though the hatch was forward on the hinges. I ended up cutting a couple of 1" pieces off some door edge trim and putting it over the pinch seam to push the weatherstripping out. You can see in this pic where the interior trim turns in sharply; I used the door trim to make the weatherstripping flat

 

[TMXONR]

Thanks ehall, I knew there was something that I was missing. When you said to prop up the hatch with a ladder, it reminded me of having to use a piece of wood to prop up the glass on the camper shell of one of our trucks when the struts went out. I removed the strut on the side that needed to be adjusted, and I was able to move the hinge with ease. Now the hatch appears to seal all the way around.