JACKED UP our JL TAILGATE

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Ever since Cindy and I decided to mount a 37" spare tire on the back of our Jeep JL Wrangler, people have been decrying the intelligence of it and have been insisting that we would break our tailgate. After all, they had seen it happen on the internet and so it must be true. And, what can I say - they were right. By the end of our trip to Moab, we found that we did in fact break our tailgate only... it wasn't where we were told it would happen AND, our spare tire had nothing to do with it.

As you can see in this photo, the break we found was on the INSIDE of our tailgate and on the bottom of the vented plastic cover.
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From what we could tell, one of our tool bags or maybe portable air compressor slammed into the back of the tailgate while taking on a big obstacle and the impact was hard enough to break the plastic cover.
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It's a bummer for sure especially being we never saw it coming. Too bad nobody had posted this on the internet. :rolleyes2:

Anyway, it really isn't that big of a deal and maybe we'll be able to cover it up with a tray table or something. Either way, we're still waiting for the rest of the tailgate to self-destruct, you know, because we mounted a 37" tire on it. :crazyeyes:
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UPDATE 04/23/18 : JACKED UP NO MORE
It'd been so long since I ordered a new interior trim panel for our JL's tailgate that I almost forgot all about it. But, it finally did come in and here are a few shots of what it looked like before, during and after the new trim was installed.

Shot of JET Li sitting next to Pappy and getting ready to get fixed up.
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New trim acquired and ready to be installed.
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Removing the existing trim.
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A couple of shots of what the inside of a JL tailgate looks like without the plastic trim installed.
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New trim panel installed. Notice the mounting points for a Trail Rail or even trail table.
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And just like that, our tailgate is whole again. :cool:
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Oh and for those of you who are wanting to know what the part is if this ever happens to you, this is what you'll need.

Panel-Swing Gate Trim : 6BM40TX7AB

Should cost about $60 :cool:
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Damn I starting reading this thinking you damaged it from the weight of the tire lol. Glad to see that it's still holding up after your trip! 👍

LOL! I won't lie, it may still happen but I highly doubt it being that we've done what we could to help mitigate jiggling and protect the spare from catching on ledges.

Ouch! That’s not cool, but it’s good to see the tailgate held up with a 37” hanging off it.

So far so good. It's even held up to driving hard and fast across rough washboards and even some minor whoops.
 

rmilobrown

Member
You might check with Terraflex, they probably have some trail ready stuff to fix you right up!!!

HAPPYTRAILS
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
According to Teraflex you probably installed the tool bag wrong to cause this failure....[emoji849]

:doh: Well duh - this had to be my fault. Of course, if they made the plastic cover, they would have shipped me a new one free of charge in spite of my stupidity. :crazyeyes:
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
That sucks! I’m sure you could buy it and replace it soon for cheap.

Yeah, I'd like to replace it but have a feeling it'll be some time before they're available. Hell, I'm still waiting for our replacement hard top to come in. :crazyeyes:

Have you tried removing your rear swaybar? Heard that helps

I was thinking about doing that but I think it only works on Tuesdays... yeah, on Tuesdays. :D
 

longarmwj

New member
Yeah, I'd like to replace it but have a feeling it'll be some time before they're available. Hell, I'm still waiting for our replacement hard top to come in. :crazyeyes:



I was thinking about doing that but I think it only works on Tuesdays... yeah, on Tuesdays. :D

Well the good news is it's Tuesday, so looks like this is JET Li's lucky day! :cheesy:
 

jesse3638

Hooked
I'm sure they'll be aftermarket metal options or as you mentioned a trail table of some sort. That was one thing that stuck out when you did the JL Journal on the tail gate, a lot of plastic on there.

Sent from my 2PYB2 using WAYALIFE mobile app
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Well the good news is it's Tuesday, so looks like this is JET Li's lucky day! :cheesy:

Well what do you know, it is Tuesday :crazyeyes:

I'm sure they'll be aftermarket metal options or as you mentioned a trail table of some sort. That was one thing that stuck out when you did the JL Journal on the tail gate, a lot of plastic on there.

Yeah, I'm sure the plastic is all there to help save on weight but unfortunately, it's easy to break. :rolleyes2:
 

JAGS

Hooked
I bet if you had the off road pages app installed it would have warned you about the tailgate inner guard failure. I’m also surprised no light on the dash and you had to find the carnage on your own. Jeep really dropped the ball.

[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]
 

RMC2

Caught the Bug
This is absolutely despicable.
I can’t believe you think a tool bag did that. It was the twisting and flexing from the 37. While you were at the mall. :thinking::naw:
 
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