Hi everyone,

I have an LOD bumper on it's way in a few weeks which should help a bit I would imagine. The problem I have is when I push to close the tailgate, it does not close, it simply hits the metal bracket on the Jeep's interior and bounces back. I have to physically lift the tire as I am closing the tailgate in order for it to close.

The only thing I have on my tailgate is a 33" Micky Thompson tire and a CB antenna. I am assuming this has been too much weight for it and it is now out of place? Any ideas how I go about bending this back or fixing it?

 

Try moving down they clip it takes a t-45 I think

 

just loosen up the hinges and realign your tailgate. Raise it up a bit and make sure all the seams have the same clearance between them then tighten the bolts back up.

 

Not sure if you can move the clip down, are the holes not threaded into the tub? If I moved it down then I don't think the tailgate would even close as the the tailgate would probably be hitting the base of the tub.

I'll give that a shot. I'll remove the tire and loosen the tailgate and see if I can realign it a bit.

Thanks guys!

 

So it does not look like something that is fixable in my eyes

I took it apart to see where the 'lift' was coming from and it's from the upper of the two hinges. In about the center of the hinge, there is a vertical pin that goes through, on the top part there is enough wiggle room in there to allow the tailgate to move up and down enough that it prevents it from closing.

I'll call the dealership tomorrow to see what kind of ridiculous money they are thinking of charging ... anyone know of any aftermarket hinges that I could use to replace it with instead? Not looking for a teraflex option or anything. I have an LOD bumper being fabricated at the moment, just want to be able to close my tailgate without having to lift it and the tire.

 

well ide offer to sell ya my stock hinges pretty cheap but if your stock ones failed due to the weight i dont think more stock hinges would do you much good : P

 

I'll take it if it's black! lol

Once my LOD bumper comes in the tire will be off of the tailgate and on the tire carrier. But I'll still be stuck with a tailgate that does not close.

There also doesn't seem to be many folks with failed hinges, especially with 33's =/

 

Here MOPAR 55395401AC - MOPAR® Tailgate Hinge for 07-13 Jeep® Wrangler & Wrangler Unlimited JK - Quadratec you might just have to buy one to replace the upper hinge

 

Yeah I saw that ... although being up in Canada, with shipping powder coating and customs it'll probably end up close to $150 - $200, not sure how much local poweder coating comes too

 

Why do you need to powder coat it? There are plastic covers that go over it