my first dent... aka, don;t let gravity help you drop your soft top. (pics inside)
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JK Enthusiast
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 383
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From: Merrimack Valley, MA
my first dent... aka, don;t let gravity help you drop your soft top. (pics inside)
my jeep is a little over a week old. i was not sure if getting a jeep was a good idea, i was wrong, it was a GREAT idea. the new england weather has been great for the end of sept, beginning of october, so the hard top has been stored for at least another month so i can go topless whenever possible (or at least put back the sunrider top). i havn't been this excited about a vehicle since i got my first cj7 15 years ago. i never opened the tailgate to put the top down in either the cj or the tj... but the manual said to do it in this jeep so i i would not damage the 3rd brake light.
here is my warning to the new jk crowd. be careful when you drop the top. below are some pics, the damage isn;t too bad, but there is a dent in the top of the tailgate and a crack in the paint.
i used a rubber mallet to bang out most of the dent, but there is still bare metal on the top of the gate and the crack in the paint. i took it to a body shop i have used before, 2 days work and $300 is the estimate to fix it. he gave me some touch up paint to protect the metal until i am ready to fix it... after banging out most of the dent and painting it, you wouldn't notice this unless you were looking for it. assuming that it doesn't rust, i will wait until there is something else to fix on the body.
the lesson i learned: newton was right, don;t let gravity pull down your soft top. the mass of the soft top, accelerating at 9.8m/s2 will slam down with enough force to dent your tailgate.
here is my warning to the new jk crowd. be careful when you drop the top. below are some pics, the damage isn;t too bad, but there is a dent in the top of the tailgate and a crack in the paint.
i used a rubber mallet to bang out most of the dent, but there is still bare metal on the top of the gate and the crack in the paint. i took it to a body shop i have used before, 2 days work and $300 is the estimate to fix it. he gave me some touch up paint to protect the metal until i am ready to fix it... after banging out most of the dent and painting it, you wouldn't notice this unless you were looking for it. assuming that it doesn't rust, i will wait until there is something else to fix on the body.
the lesson i learned: newton was right, don;t let gravity pull down your soft top. the mass of the soft top, accelerating at 9.8m/s2 will slam down with enough force to dent your tailgate.
JK Newbie
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From: CT
JK Freak
Joined: Jan 2009
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From: Lohman, Missouri
What I did:
This spring right after I first put the softtop back on I got in a hurry and slammed the tailgate with the rear window retention bar not seated. Result was a severly bent corner of the tailgate, much worse than yours. I took it to the body shop and my friend there said he would have to bondo it to make it smooth 
I couldn't live with that and as I had several other chips on it from Heidi hanging out the back I suggested he put about an inch of Line-X across the gate. The Line-X acts to fill in the little ripples etc. so no bondo. It looks great,cost me $63, and makes for a much more durable tailgate edge. I do feel your pain at the first damage on your baby! 
I couldn't live with that and as I had several other chips on it from Heidi hanging out the back I suggested he put about an inch of Line-X across the gate. The Line-X acts to fill in the little ripples etc. so no bondo. It looks great,cost me $63, and makes for a much more durable tailgate edge. I do feel your pain at the first damage on your baby!
