Appreciate all your input. I see on the HB website they are working on their own billet hinges...do you have any insight (good or bad) on these?Full disclosure...I wasted a LOT of time and money trying out many of the tailgate reinforcement setups...RC, then BAMF, then RTR, and finally Hammer Built actually picked up the phone (he listed his cell number in the forum) listened to what I was hoping to do (go with Raptor hinges to address my area of concern...the arched OEM hinges with no mounting points) and then communicated with me back and forth for weeks/months with me taking measurements and sending pics and they made me a Raptor hinge specific plate that worked like a charm even before final tweaks were made. None of the other companies were nearly as helpful/interested in producing something other than what they already offered...so although I don't work for Hammer Built I do endorse them for the lengths they went to just to help out even one forum member! I have nothing against IAG other than the fact that they chose to make a hinge assembly out of aluminum, and they made a bracket that only supports the outer four mounting points of the OEM carrier...and they don't have any universal mounting points for the typical gear that forum members may want to carry. It does have a couple of threaded holes into the aluminum that I anticipate them selling their own specific brackets for, but the Hammer Built setup is already good to go for an antenna or Rotopax or a shovel or a jack or many other universally mounted items. The Hammer Built set up also has pre-threaded inserts into steel, which I trust a lot more than a couple of threaded holes in soft aluminum. It is also much lower profile and keeps the spare tire in almost the same place as it was intended.
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