ELI5: Tailgate Adjustment

[cafecito820]

Update: It's not the factory hinges, but Teraflex explains their method of adjustment pretty well in this video. I'm going to give this a try tonight and see if that does the trick.



For whatever reason, I cannot get our tailgate to sit properly. Right now, the tailgate has:

• Quadratec Tailgate Table (~20lb)
• Taktik Wheel (~32lb)
• Toyo 35" Tire (67lb)

We also have the Mopar reinforcement bracket and the oversized spare tire carrier (tire was scraping the bumper).

Obviously, with the tailgate loaded up, it sags considerably. So I loosened the 4 bolts, did the whole tape measurement thing to get the striker and latch lined up, etc. I thought all was good, but after that, the bottom right corner of the tailgate is grinding into the body paint every time we open/close it. So I loosened the bolts again, and tried to lift the right (hinge) side, and they barely move. But, I lifted that side up ever so slightly, tightened the bolts, and now the left is sagging again (as expected). But now if I lift the left, the bottom right corner goes back down to the body paint again, even if I put a shim in there to hold it in place.

Ultimately, I just can't wrap my head around the right order of operations here. Tightening one bolt to kind of use as a swinging hinge doesn't seem to work, or maybe I'm doing it wrong? In my head, if it should go:

1. Lift right side, and tighten top right bolt.
2. Left left side to accommodate for sag, and tighten the top left bolt.
3. Tighten the remaining two.

But I guess this is where I get confused. The play in the tailgate with the bolts loose appears to be in all directions, not just up and down. So I don't even know where to begin.

Am I missing something here? I know our tailgate is heavy, but it's a far cry from the limit, especially with the reinforcement bracket.

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[Jeepeto]

I did this with my last Jeep; stack cardboard in the door, shut door with cardboard in it. Loosen tailgate bolts, confirm fitment and retighten. Repeat with more cardboard until tailgate is in alignment.

 

[cafecito820]

I did this with my last Jeep; stack cardboard in the door, shut door with cardboard in it. Loosen tailgate bolts, confirm fitment and retighten. Repeat with more cardboard until tailgate is in alignment.

You did this with the full load on the tailgate?

 

[Jeepeto]

You did this with the full load on the tailgate?

35” MTs and a tailgate table. It was my “full load”. TBH I was winging it, it’s not the official method I wouldn’t guess but it worked well for me.

 

[cafecito820]

35” MTs and a tailgate table. It was my “full load”. TBH I was winging it, it’s not the official method I wouldn’t guess but it worked well for me.

Well I'll take "what works" over nothing at this point. Every place I look online, people just say it's so easy with 4 bolts, or it's just a passive mention of the tailgate while installing something else. There's no official Mopar instructions for how to adjust this thing. Even their instructions for the oversized spare tire carrier dedicate a whopping one frame (crappy images with arrows) to it and don't explain a damn thing.

 

[jerrygcoffey]

Just to be clear, are we talking about the bolts on the outside of the tailgate where the hinge attaches to the tailgate itself? I need to do the same after installing my tailgate table on my Smittybilt tailgate reinforcement

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