Tailgate Plate Bolts - Flush or not?

[Asmara]

I removed my tailgate plate and installed a power tailgate lock. When I put everything together, I noticed that the bolts in the picture had a smooth part on the shaft and that this part was wider than the hole in the plastic on the tailgate plate. This causes the bolts to be raised off the tailgate plate a bit. I thought maybe this was intentional and there was something you could hook on the bolts.

I just saw a friend's 3rd gen and his bolts were flush.

Are they supposed to be flush or raised?

 

[Asmara]

I like the format and smaller community here so I always post something here before I head over to Tacoma World. Since I didn't get a response after a couple of days, I posted the same thing at Tacoma World and got a solution.

My mistake was that I reassembled the plastic wrong. The inner piece belongs under the top piece. I figured I would reply here in case somebody else makes the same mistake.