I have a 2003 Ranger and I am (slowly) learning my way around it. Two driver side torx screws are missing from the plastic bed liner tailgate cover portion. Does anyone know what size those are? I need to buy replacement screws as well as a torx bit set. Yes, I'm that new to working on my own vehicle.

ALSO: My tailgate rattles badly when I go over bumps. I checked the hinges and they look to be in okay shape. There seems to be a lot of front-to-back play where the tailgate latches to the bed. Any ideas on what this could be?

Thanks!

 

So I can help with the tailgate, I just fixed this last week. See the two torx head screws? If you loosen them a bit and push the latch toward the cab it should tighten up the gate when closed. Do both sides. You can see where the top screw used to be and how much I moved it. Got rid of the rattle so far.

 

The screws for the tailgate panel are torx-30 heads. Just get a t-30 socket at home depot or the like, pull one out, and match it to another screw at the hardware store. They don't need to be torx head. If you find a good screw or bolt that fits, you can replace them all so you don't have to use 2 sockets in the future.

 

I will give this a try, guessing I’ll just need to buy a torx bit set anyways.

 

Yeah, those ones are bigger, t-40 or t-45 I would guess.