Tailgate reinforcement needed?

[NINTH]

When I put 37" tires on mine, I put a heavy steel reinforcement bracket with integrated spare relocation bracket. It had heavy steel hinges and a big metal brace that kept the swing-gate from flexing. But I couldn't keep it adjusted. Every few months the swing-gate would stop closing unless I really rammed it in there. I also put on a heavy steel rear bumper. And with all that weight the rear of the jeep was sagging so much that I decided to replace both the bumper and reinforcement with aluminum counterparts. I got one of the Amazon knockoffs of the (expensive) aluminum Mopar reinforcement bracket and went back to the stock hinges. Still have a 37" tire on there and it has been fine with no need for adjustment in the last six months that it has been installed. The best part, no more sagging rear end - which also means no more rear tires rubbing off-road.

Good to hear you solved it!

Mind sharing the Amazon link to the aluminum reinforcement bracket?

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[NINTH]

my tailgate warped before i could get a stronger setup.
the hinges work fine so it isn't necessarily a "failure", but if you want to keep everything straight get a carrier that includes replacement of the hinges.

aside from hanging our 100+ Spares off these things, some of us have the tailgate open while using the tailgate tables, and that leverage is creating even more stress on the hinges.

Yeah definitely want to use the tailgate table and that's going to add more weight so looking to do a reinforcement soon

 

[RicRecon]

JL has been out for what 7 years almost 8 now? I have yet to come across any that the hinges failed on when someone is running an oversize tire with no reinforcement. I have been running a 108lb set up for 5 years on my 19. Wheel it a few times a year on the rocks and is my DD. I did exactly three things. Installed a relocation bracket so the tire sat up a bit higher, extended the stops out so they are tight against the tire and finally installed a latch limiter so the tailgate wouldn't sag. All in less than $100 and no issues to this day.

Please direct me to where I can look into this latch limiter. Thank you

 

[RicRecon]

I switched to Toyo RT Trails in 315 size and TF wheels about 25k miles ago. I believe my spare is roughly 100lbs now. Nothing else hanging of the tailgate. Noticed only lately that my tailgate is beginning to sag and I can visually see my spare shaking around in the camera when I’m off-road. I researched and recently ordered MORryde HD hinges for my JLU. I plan to install those first to see how that resolves the issue. If I need more reinforcement, I can add that from MORyde just in case. That is my plan to see how it works. Figured the hinges were the first source of failure.

 

[Stuckinthesand]

Please direct me to where I can look into this latch limiter. Thank you

This thread explains what it is. Few links in there or you can look on Amazon.

https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/tailgate-latch-stop-bumper.72937/

 

[cosmokenney]

Good to hear you solved it!

Mind sharing the Amazon link to the aluminum reinforcement bracket?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TVC5HZ3?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_2

 

[RicRecon]

I switched to Toyo RT Trails in 315 size and TF wheels about 25k miles ago. I believe my spare is roughly 100lbs now. Nothing else hanging of the tailgate. Noticed only lately that my tailgate is beginning to sag and I can visually see my spare shaking around in the camera when I’m off-road. I researched and recently ordered MORryde HD hinges for my JLU. I plan to install those first to see how that resolves the issue. If I need more reinforcement, I can add that from MORyde just in case. That is my plan to see how it works. Figured the hinges were the first source of failure.

I should have added…that when I first mounted this wheel/tire combo, I had no problem with the spare (barely) clearing the 2” rise ball mount for my trailer. Lately when I‘m swinging the tailgate open, the spare is hitting the ball. So something is sagging.

 

[NINTH]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TVC5HZ3?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_2

Thank you!

 

[zouch]

be aware that doesn’t do anything to reinforce the hinges.

Thank you!

 

[cosmokenney]

be aware that doesn’t do anything to reinforce the hinges.

In my experience the stock hinges are fine. More than 6 months with this thing installed and no issues.

 

[AnnDee4444]

Gate frame is rectangle shape, the spare is hold by the spiderweb of little ridge.
Does make senses to reinforce that portion of the gate as the gate itself look to be really solid

You might be interested in this:

Finally got around to installing Under Cover Fab's tailgate reinforcement bracket. Couple things:

• Enlarged 2 of the hinge holes closer to the middle of the vehicle
• Clearanced a small area in the middle/bottom
• Didn't use any of the hinge spacers or outer lower spare tire mount spacers
• drilled some additional holes for the wiring harness clips
• Ordered different bolts & painted to better match OEM look

https://undercoverfab.com/jeep-jl-j...inner-tire-carrier-reinforcement-bracket.html

 

[Pape]

You might be interested in this:

This is pretty nice internal reinforcement as a alternative to the external one.
Did you replace the bolts (breaking the paint) ?

 

[AnnDee4444]

This is pretty nice internal reinforcement as a alternative to the external one.
Did you replace the bolts (breaking the paint) ?

Yes because the stock hinge bolts are not long enough. The kit comes with all the bolts needed, but I didn't like the standard hex-head bolt that was included so I sourced some stainless allen head bolts & washers and painted to match. I couldn't find any stock looking torx head bolts that were long enough with the required taper, but these are close enough that nobody will notice.

 

[Tech Tim]

the stock JL hinge is far superior than the JK hinge.

Truth right there!

Have a JL Sport and just upgraded wheels/tires to Method 703 17x8.5 with Falken Wildpeak AT3 285/70/17 so the new weight of the wheel and tire combined is about 95lbs.

Do I need to reinforce the tailgate or can the stock hinges support this increase in weight?

33s? No problem unless you spend a ton of time driving gravel roads and I mean a lot.

But they are questionable with a 35" tire/wheel combo and no go with 37s or bigger if you spend any time driving rough roads, especially at speed. It's the vibrations that kill the door and hinges.

For adding more support, there are lots of options out there. One is the HD reinforcement brace and tire carrier from TeraFlex. They're not too bad to install, we just dropped a new vid on them today:

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