Drive way gates wont close seems like they are not squared or dropped. i jacked them up to see and they were still catching in the middle.

most sliding gates suffer form dirt, grass , rocks in the gate track so constant cleaning of that track is essential
small twigs , rocks will slide along with the wheels on opening but are an obstruction for the wheels on closing
most closing gates run a cog and rack system at the bottom ot the gate so check that the mesh of the rack and cog is correct at either end

There is a switch in the housing that tells the controller if the gate is open or closed. The switch is bad or out of adjustment.

if the motor cant rotate the shaft by itself, its likely a burned coil in the motor, but if the motor is running but not moving the gate then its a broken gear

You should be able to remove the trimpanel on the lift-gate. then at the location of the striker in the middle-bottom of lift-gate you should be able to access a rod. Grab the rod with pliers, if pliers won,t fit the rod connects to a metal lever attached to the striker assembly, pry the lever away from the striker and this should release you gate....Good Luck!!!

Check your owners manual .There is a saftey catch that will need to be realased by using your bottle jack and tire stops that come with your truck. If you dont have a owners manual. What you can try is taking a floor jack and a socket place it under the spairtire right in the center where the cable holds the tire in place. start jacking it up until the socket hits the square part in the center once the socket is aligned with the square part continue to jack up it should release it . Its a stupid system but it will work if the cable wont allow the tire to drop. good luck and keep me posted.

latches for this are on the sides. The are connected by the handle in the middle of the gate. Latches are either stuck open (dry or frozen open) or stuck closed and you are banging on them when trying to close and "latch" gate. Get a screwdriver and while pulling up on tailgate handle make sure latches(on gate) are open to engage "striker bolt". If they are spray them liberally with WD40 or silicone SPRAY. latch and open several times to let lubricant attack rusted area on mechanism.

If latches won't open they may be stuck closed and won't open because cable going from middle handle to that side or both sides is disconnected. Does tailgate have star shaped bolts on "inside-bed-when-closed" side? If so you will need to spray these with WD40 and let set then get a star torques bit and remove them to access middle handle actuator.

Check your owners manual .There is a saftey catch that will need to be realased by using your bottle jack and tire stops that come with your truck. If you dont have a owners manual. What you can try is taking a floor jack and a socket place it under the spairtire right in the center where the cable holds the tire in place. start jacking it up until the socket hits the square part in the center once the socket is aligned with the square part continue to jack up it should release it . Its a stupid system but it will work if the cable wont allow the tire to drop .I drive a tow truck and this has happened to me several times with people who have this type of system on a GM.

Look closely between the bumper and tail gate, you should see a square socket looking hole. You take the handle off your jack, insert it into that hole and twist the jack handle to lower your spare tire.

Broken door latch.
Needs replacement.

Most likely your chain is not going to be your problem. When you pull the cover off of your SL 3000 there will be a little rectangle box on top. There is either one or 2 screws holding the lid down...loosen the screws and take the lid off. Inside there will be a long screw drive with 2 plastic nuts with teeth.At either end of the screw drive you will find a switch that one of the nuts should be resting on. (these are your limit switches that tell the motor when to stop) Run the gate open and closed...when you run it closed see if it is hitting one of the limit switches when it stops. (turn off the power) If so, hold back the plate keeping the nut in place and move the nut further away from the limit switch.(don't move it too far so that you don't slam the gate too hard into the catch post and hurt the post/gate/motor) Turn the power back on and run it again. Repete this untill the gate is stopping where you would like it too. e-mail me with any further questions [email protected]