fivendime

My brother has a 2000 jeep cherokee with a stuck rear hatch. It is unlocked but he or I cant get it open. It did it in the past and I had him run one side of the rig up on the curb to twist the rig a little and it popped right open. I have tried everything and its stuck. Any help would e awesome!

wicked_xj

theres a little nu when you look down at the latch after removing the rear hatch panel it either goes forward or revers use a small screw driver. ZIt will be on your right hand side

BowtieGuy3

Does the hatch handle move but not release it?

96Cherokee

my hatch is the same way, it opened when I looked at the jeep but when I brought it home 2 days later it wouldnt open at all. I cant even turn the key, but I can press the button all the way down. An oh boy did I ever pull on that bastard

BLKXJ 96

Theres a flat lever that slides back and forth and locks or unlocks the rear hatch it tends to stick after a while. try hitting the unlock button a bunch of times and have another person pulling the handle up real fast. that is how I have had the best luck gitting the hatch open when this happens. then you need to remove the pannel and lube the handle and the part that slides.

96Cherokee

can u reach the lever from the inside without taking the panel off? I can kind of see where it latches

98CherokeeLimit4x4

Mine has a towel stuck in between lock on hatch it won't open either.

mudd89driver

when mine wont open... i know it has something to do with the weather... alot of the time it freezes shut and is impossible to open.

BLKXJ 96

No, the "lever" is part of the handle and is inside the sheet metal structure of the liftgate. The panel must be removed to see it, basicly it is the back side of the handle that you can see on the outside of the Jeep. Very common problem with 97 to 01 xj's

jpdocdave

ya mine doesn't like the cold either. sometimes it sticks when its real cold. and then actually monday it unstock while i was going down the road, and it popped open. at least its working again.

fivendime

Its unlocked and you can pull the handle up, it just wont open or even budge. So I can take the plastic panel off from the inside? It has been this way in 70 deg weather and 20 deg weather so I think temp is ruled out.

BowtieGuy3

Mine 98 did the same...
There's no easy way to say this, but I hope you're not attached to the interior trim too much...

There are 4 screws on the bottom of the plastic cover of the hatch trim piece, take them out.
Then pull like hell and hopefully you can only break it in one spot (the hatch itself covers the other 4 screws holding it on, 2 per side, running along the frame by the window)
Once that's done, just reach in and grab the linkage to open it, then you can see the assembly and how to adjust it.

I glued my trim piece back together where I cracked it, and never put those 4 side screws in again (just in case)...

If someone knows a better way, let me know...

taythegibs

mine did that but i jumped on the bumper while pulling on the latch and it opened

96Cherokee

will it being jammed like this stop you from being able to turn the key?

wicked_xj

ya i left the interior panel off actually just threw it away a little back