Well, when I bought the '96 a few weeks ago the guy opened it and we loaded the spare 215/75R15 tires in that he had.  He showed me how the handle would stick and you just had to pry it down and the door would open.  Okay I figured, I can deal with that.  Well, we got home the next day and I haven't been able to get the door open since.  I had to unload the tires through the passenger side door.
The annoying part is with the 95-98 soft tops you have to open the rear hatch first before you can open the top so I can't even get into the rear of the vehicle without crawling over the back seat!

I can't get the back hatch to open for anything now.  It's like the lock is frozen shut, I think the weight of the tires against it jammed it or something.  Any hints?

 You'll have to climb in the back and remove the access cover and push the latch rod by hand to open the door.

 Once open you can see what needs fixing, probably just have to adjust the rod on the latch and lube it. Worst case is one of the plastic clips is broken.

 Have fun

Steve.

 Once open you can see what needs fixing, probably just have to adjust the rod on the latch and lube it. Worst case is one of the plastic clips is broken.

 Have fun

Steve.

worst case the handle is so rotted that when you go to open the door the handle falls off in your hand.  you just have to push the center of the plastic "thingys" in and pull the panel off.  after that you just need to pop the door open by pulling on the right linkage.

Stu

when the handle on my truck gets sticky i remove the inside panel and lube the handle from the inside with a good penatrating oil. it keeps it working in our wet climate.

derek

Well, just to dig this back up, I finally got around to dinking with it.  Looks like I have two problems.  The door lock lever thingy jams in the closed position when you lock the door and won't disengage (or maybe won't disengage enough) to let the door unlock unless you go in with a pry bar or screw driver and flip it back towards the rear of the truck.
At the same time the rear door handle won't go back down unless you stick said screw driver or prybar in there and pry it back down.  I covered everything in spray lithium grease just to make sure it was at least lubed now.

So now I can open the door again but I just can't lock it without having to remove the interior panel and mess with the stuff again...

Thoughts?