Tailgate latch body striker help

Greetings all-

In my ongoing efforts to seal every leak in my wagon, I pinpointed that water is getting in at the lower striker on the tailgate (Pass side). The striker is on the inboard side. On the outboard side is a flange and receiver. This is sandwiched over a flanged body seam.

I want to take the striker and receiver off so I can seal and reinstall.

Tonight I found the closest size that fits the star drive hole was a 47 but one turn and I stripped out the start drive fastener!!!! Holy Cripe is not the words I used.

So, anyone ever remove this fastener? What size drive did you use? It is not a T50 and I do not find that there is a size between T47 and T50. The T47 seemed a bit loose and of course it stripped it out with little effort which leads me to believe there must be another tool specific for this?

Depending on where you got the T50, I have found some differ in size. I got a T50 from Harbor Freight that is slightly smaller (think thousandths of an inch) than the one from Autozone, and fits the seatbelt bolts perfectly. That one should also fit the gate striker.

Did you check the seal along the gate? The gate seal may be compressed, and not keeping water out.

Okay....Got the darn thing off. It was clearly the culprit for the last remaining leak entry point on the drivers side. So I will Por 15 and paint.

I ran to Harbor Freight and bought an Impact version of a T50. Hameered it in and wrenched it outta there. I think I initially stripped it thinking it was a T47 but it was clearly a T50.

Does anyone happen to have a lower striker laying around that the threads are not buggered up they are willing to sell?