Today I went to open my Tailgate, and the handle is so tight that I was afraid it would break. I know that if I remove the panel, that it can be adjusted. But I'm not sure what to look for or do. Any help is certainly appreciated!

 

It probably doesn't need adjusted, just lubricated. When I'm building trucks I notice this alot and just grease the sliders where the tailgate latches and spray pb blaster on the latch and work it back n forth until it smooths out.

 

Take the inspection panel off of the tail gate and lubricate all of the connecting points inside of the tailgate also.

Sometimes the corrosion has gone too far so consider replacing the latch assembly.

 

I have a latch assembly if you need one :P pm me. try what John said first.

 

Like said above.

When I shaved the handle on my first tailgate the scissor mechanism was quite badly rusted, and was noticably harder to work than the new tailgate I got (and shaved). This or the latch pins are the only real binding area that would cause this, both easily accessable through the inspection panel.