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Manual operation of rear liftgate?

T

Toe ball

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Hi everybody,
Does anyone know of a way to manually open the rear liftgate? I didn't see anything about it in the owner's manual. No problem yet, just trying to know the vehicle.
2021 Explorer ST.
 

2020FordRaptor

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#2
Toe ball said:
Hi everybody,
Does anyone know of a way to manually open the rear liftgate? I didn't see anything about it in the owner's manual. No problem yet, just trying to know the vehicle.
2021 Explorer ST.
Click to expand...
There’s no way with the powered tailgate. It is really hard, almost impossible to open/close tailgate with those powered struts. Could get some manual gas shocks from Interceptor should they go out.
 

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Toe ball

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2020FordRaptor said:
There’s no way with the powered tailgate. It is really hard, almost impossible to open/close tailgate with those powered struts. Could get some manual gas shocks from Interceptor should they go out.
Click to expand...
I was just wondering. I could envision my ST being loaded with my daughter's college stuff and the liftgate stop working when we get there
 

2020FordRaptor

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Toe ball said:
I was just wondering. I could envision my ST being loaded with my daughter's college stuff and the liftgate stop working when we get there
Click to expand...
First off, failures are very rare, I for one haven’t seen them go out. Second, with enough effort you could raise it manually.
 

UNBROKEN

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Raising it isn’t an issue…the struts aren’t that strong. The issue is how do you release the latch if it fails?
 

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UNBROKEN said:
Raising it isn’t an issue…the struts aren’t that strong. The issue is how do you release the latch if it fails?
Click to expand...
I agree. I haven’t seen any failures so this is all hypothetical, if anything you just grab it from the second row doors and bring it through.
 

powerboatr

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i am not sure
Either book is vague.
But actual latch failures I bet are rare.
At least fold down seats and get stuff out via passenger doors.
 

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Yeah. I figured pulling it out the second row was always an option. I thought that there might be another way.
Thanks everyone!
 

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The 2025 Explorer has the option to set the Power lift gate from Power to Manual. See attached picture.
 

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ExplorerSTBob said:
The 2025 Explorer has the option to set the Power lift gate from Power to Manual. See attached picture.
Click to expand...
Did they add a physical release somewhere?
20-24’s have no such thing…it power or nothing.
 

I Bleed Ford Blue

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#11
ExplorerSTBob said:
The 2025 Explorer has the option to set the Power lift gate from Power to Manual. See attached picture.
Click to expand...
The 20-24's have that too
 

23 Explorer ST

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#12
ExplorerSTBob said:
The 2025 Explorer has the option to set the Power lift gate from Power to Manual. See attached picture.
Click to expand...
My 2023 has that option also.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

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Don’t know where you guys are finding that, I’ve never seen that on the ‘20-‘24s ever.
 

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#14
UNBROKEN said:
Did they add a physical release somewhere?
20-24’s have no such thing…it power or nothing.
Click to expand...
I don’t know where they could’ve added a physical release? This is very interesting to me.
 

GearHead_1

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I don't think we're talking a mechanical release lever here. I think they may be talking about who is lifting the gate, you or the car. I've never looked at anything other than power lift, but then again, maybe I'm one of the lucky ones because my foot opens mine just fine too.
 

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#16
UNBROKEN said:
Did they add a physical release somewhere?
20-24’s have no such thing…it power or nothing.
Click to expand...
After setting it to manual, you still have to push the button either on the inside or at the liftgate to pop it open and then manually lift it.
 

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The 2020-2024 can only turn off the power liftgate. Not really designed to manually open. Good luck trying to get your fingers in there and forcing it open.

1728756591974.png
 

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KANSAS said:
The 2020-2024 can only turn off the power liftgate. Not really designed to manually open. Good luck trying to get your fingers in there and forcing it open.

View attachment 25598
Click to expand...
Far as I’ve seen the 25 is the same way…which is why I asked if they added a physical release.
 

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