What are other owner’s experience with getting the Tailgate to stay in the open position when vehicle is on varying lateral slopes? I thought I read somewhere in the manual that if you open the tailgate to the position you want and hold it there for a moment, the gas strut will “lock” in that position. I have had varying success with this. But in general, I have struggled to keep the tailgate in the full open position if the vehicle is leaning to the left. Can be frustrating if you are trying to load bags and door keeps swinging into you.

Does anyone make some kind of mod or accessory that will hold it open? Of course I could easily come up with something. Thanks!

 

+1 for this question. I've asked my dealership but they never got back to me.

It's quite annoying. Our driveway has a slight slope where I park, so I've taken to wedging one of the dog towels between the strut and door to keep it open when I'm loading/unloading.

Would love a better solution to this. So far the tailgate on my Disco 4 is one of the few things I miss on the defender.

 

Open it to the desired position and then pull the release lever again. That holds it in place.

 

The button under the handle? Tried it but didn't do anything. Or is the release lever something else?

 

It's the button/lever under the handle. On my vehicle (US 2022 P400) pulling that when the door is open holds it open.

 

It must be different on UK models, or on mine anyway. Thanks anyway though!

 

Open the door to the position that you want, then immediately pull it back closed a little.

On mine this locks the strut and the door stays where it is.

 

Interesting, I just went out to garage and tried that. No go. USA Spec 2020 Defender with soft close (if that matters).

However, I did try what the following poster suggested about opening door to desired position then pulling slightly closed…that seems to work…and that seems to match what I read somewhere (just can’t remember where )

Looking at the gas cylinder, there doesn’t seem to be any electrical wires going to it - it is just a standard gas strut from what I can tell - so not quite sure what pulling that electrical door release button would do, but maybe you have an option or something…cool! Thanks guys.

 

this^

 

Yep -- the below works a good % of the time on my 2020 X w/ soft close as well. Not *every* time but it has held on pretty mega slopes when Offroad and trying to get the dog back in etc

"However, I did try what the following poster suggested about opening door to desired position then pulling slightly closed…that seems to work…and that seems to match what I read somewhere (just can’t remember where )"