Old Guard

Just orderd the hinges. Can't wait for the rest to be released.

d. gage

Subscribed. This is a great alternative to whats already at market now.

ShawnInPaso

Wow, that hinge looks like a great option. Sure would like to see it with a 35 mounted up though (and will it accommodate the rotopax with a 35?).

jscherb

Thank you.

jscherb

Thanks!

ShawnInPaso

That's terrific. Can't wait for the options to be made available. Thanks for making it happen.

Mattk11

How difficult is it to install? I looked at my rear hinges and they look like they are painted over from the factory. Do I have to somehow cut around the paint to break it apart before I remove the factory hinges? Will I need to somehow touch up paint so there is no exposed metal under the factory hinge or am I overthinking this? Thanks for any advice.

jscherb

The tub is painted at the factory after the hinges are installed, but you don't have to "break the paint seal" to remove the hinges, the paint isn't that thick - just unbolt the hinges and they'll come right off. Installation is easy, the new hinges bolt right up. And new stainless-steel hardware is supplied, so you don't have to reuse the factory Torx hardware.

But... because everything is painted after assembly, the metal between the hinge and the tub and the hinge and the tailgate only has the e-coat primer on it. Sometimes this is fine, when I removed the factory hinges on my 2013 JKU (the red one in this thread) to install these, the e-coat was in great shape, so I just installed the new hinges.

A friend of mine has a 2014 JKU, and we installed a prototype set of these hinges on his in October, so at most his Jeep would have been 12-18 months old since its manufacture date. Here's what he found when he removed his factory hinges:



He removed the worst of the corrosion and primed/repainted the bad spots. So you may be glad you did remove your factory hinges if your Jeep is like his, it's a good chance to catch corrosion before it gets too bad. It varies a lot though, like I said there wasn't any corrosion on my 2013.

Speaking of corrosion, here's what happens to the factory hinges... the weakest part of the factory hinge is the hinge bearing. Here's a photo of a factory hinge that's only a few years old. You can see the rust where the hinge pin passes through the hinge base - this hinge is already loose, and rattled when driving over bumps in the road because of the looseness. Part of the problem is that the factory hinge pin bearing is a steel-on-steel surface that isn't lubricated; that plus the rust starts the wear process and since the bearing surface is only the 3/16"-thick hinge base, once it starts to wear is goes pretty quickly.

westchester

A tip from experience: The MBRP brackets do not prevent tailgate sheetmetal separation with 35s..... Some get away with it for a while, mine quickly tore apart.

jscherb

Thank you. Making this happen is fun, I do these designs as a hobby - I'm just a Jeep enthusiast like you guys and I design these things because I want them on my own Jeep. And often companies find my designs interesting enough to bring to market - tomorrow I've got meetings to discuss getting the rest of the things in this thread to market, so hopefully all will go well.

Also under discussion are the side-mount jerry can and Rotopax carriers I recently designed for my JKU, so there's a lot going on...





These fuel carriers bolt right on, there's no drilling.