2 weeks ago I noticed that the rubber boot between tailgate and body had a large rip in right at the joint between the bellows and body side grommet, allowing water to get inside during car wash.
This part is not sold separately and even so, removing the harness from the tailgate is a headache
I attempted to fix it and the repair still holds, so I want to share the repair procedure.
Materials required:
1) Super glue liquid from Dollar Tree store
2) Black RTV (must be flexible when dry and adherent to the rubber such as wire sealant, tent sealant, marine sealant, etc.)
1) 1.5 by 4 inches piece of paper (aka “splint”)
Tools:
Plastic pick or taped screwdriver (to pry the grommets out of body panels)
Knife or scissors
Marker
Procedure:
• With tailgate open, pull both grommets out of body panels (Note the body side grommet has 2 flat rubber strips factory taped to the harness so you have to separate them from harness; I just pulled them out of tape)
• Align broken pieces together and mark their relationship
• Roll the paper around exposed wires and stick it into the opening of the grommet; be sure it goes into the bellows past the breakage point to support both parts together.
• Apply superglue at the joint making sure that alignment marks are close together; you may do it in several passes.
• Once superglue is set (after 20 minutes) apply RTV to the joint filling the gap between bellows; wait 30 minutes and gently close the tailgate
• After 6 hours, push grommets back into the body openings (it is not necessary to attach boot to the wire bundle on the body side)