Rear door twisting

[Shawn_1121]

I've been eyeing that AAL carrier for a while now.
Was hoping to catch a BF sale I couldn't pass up.
Seems handier than handles on a box.

Same here. saving 50$ didnt move the needle for me and shipping was over $80

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[Brian_B]

Thank you @flip !

 

[Brian_B]

Which hard top do you have? Anderson? It looks textured. Just wondering if an aftermarket hard top may be the cause in any way due to the back window where it marries up to the tailgate. Longshot, but something I noticed.

Rallytop.

Hmm. Maybe.

It bolts on the side panel like the factory hard top does, so all the weight is carried up over the rear fenders.

The rear hatch doesn’t put any significant pressure on the tailgate, and absolutely no weight. I had to add a bit of weatherstripping to get it to even touch the tailgate and seal.

But maybe. I think the “someone tapped it in the parking lot” idea is more likely (I haven’t backed into anything I’m aware of), but I wouldn’t discount this idea either.

 

[coadr]

if you ever think of selling the spare tire mount, lmk

Haha honestly I'd be open to it! Shipping would just be a nightmare though. If you ever find yourself out west in Colorado let me know!

 

[Shawn_1121]

Haha honestly I'd be open to it! Shipping would just be a nightmare though. If you ever find yourself out west in Colorado let me know!

just ship it haha

 

[Brian_B]

So possibly not even related, but while fooling with this, I noticed the spare isn’t resting against the lower bumpers.

When I bought this it already had wheels/tires replaced so I don’t know how the OEM sits.

This could possibly contribute to this but not sure how it’s supposed to look.

 

[thesocalexplorer]

So possibly not even related, but while fooling with this, I noticed the spare isn’t resting against the lower bumpers.

When I bought this it already had wheels/tires replaced so I don’t know how the OEM sits.

This could possibly contribute to this but not sure how it’s supposed to look.

I'd say this is what's causing your tailgate issue. WIthout the tire making contact with those bumpers, the spare "bounces" around more on the mount.

 

[Brian_B]

I'd say this is what's causing your tailgate issue. WIthout the tire making contact with those bumpers, the spare "bounces" around more on the mount.

Thanks.

So I was digging around here on the forums... searching for anything with the word bumper in it turns up a lot of what I wasn't looking for, but that's just me needing to get better with Xenforo search I guess.

My current bumper is right at about 1" too short.

I did find a part number: M2DZ-1A401-A - not sure what that comes out to for length, but it was recommended for a 0 offset tire (I'm also not sure what that means yet, but I'm learning).
From this post:
https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/threads/spare-tire-rubber-bumpers.41853/#post-2031177

There was also this, out on a wider Google search:
https://barnes4wd.com/products/bronco-spare-tire-extended-bumper
Not sure if that's 6th gen or an older model, or if it really even matters given that it just needs a hole in the back for the screw.

For the time being, I went out and followed some guidance here -
A few people just modifed some Jeep bumpers, but I didn't have any of those on hand. Someone else used a dowel and some rubber feet. I stumbled across this from @SnowBronco, I didn't have any dowel on hand, but I did have some 1" PVC pipe that fit.

So for the time being, I've done that and the bumper touches the tire now. I will eventually replace it with a rubber stop - as the PVC doesn't have any give/bounce to it at all, and if someone does hit the tire in the parking lot (or I back into a tree), it will mean major damage.

Also, that plastic screw in the anchor is a royal pain to get out of there. The anchor kept twisting with the screw, and the head kept stripping. I heated up a phillips bit and melted it into the plastic screw, but could never get enough friction on the anchor to hold it while I turned the screw without just stripping the head back out again. I ended up just pulling/wiggling the bumper off around the anchor. When I put them back in I replaced the plastic screw with a metal one - that won't fix the overall problem, but at least it won't strip the head out like I did on the plastic ones.

As far as realignment - went to go play with that, but I need a bigger Torx set, I only had up to 40, and that post is a 45 or 50. So I'll get back around to that once I get the right bit.

 

[vbrad26]

For what its worth, my tailgate has looked like that since the day I picked it up lol.

 

[shift9996]

I'd have to agree with you. I saw my tailgate misalignment a week after taking delivery. It is only on one corner, so it definitely seems like twist/warp from the factory. It's a stock sas-badlands. (Don't mind the dent, that was from a recent fight with a stray branch.)

 

[Brian_B]

Following up on this.

Since modding the spare tire bumpers, the door hadn't got any worse. I had got the striker plate adjusted (I didn't come back and update this post - it was probably a week later - my bad), and it helped - I got 3 of the 4 corners lined up , but could never get the last corner lined up perfectly.

I just installed a TOR tailgate reenforcement, I probably didn't need it once I got the bumpers where they needed, but now I ~know~ I don't need to worry about it.

Three things of note:

The door is definitely twisted. I can get three of the four corners aligned fairly well, but there's a twist in the tailgate panel so I can't get all the body lines to line up or all 4 corners to be just perfect. It's stout enough that I can't just knee it back either (Maybe with a 2x4 and some leverage, as was suggested, but I'll admit I'm afraid of going too far and causing more harm than good). It isn't terrible, but it's noticeable if you know what to look for.

The TOR reenforcement finally got rid of that last squeak coming from the rear end.

After having adjusted the striker plate, and after some time has passed - now I can't get the painted bolts on the striker plate to budget. I probably over-torqued them. So to finish up the alignment following the new tailgate hinges and carrier I will have to get those bolts backed out again.

 

[Brian_B]

So - been a while, and after some shenanigans with the tailgate, I can update a bit

The striker plate bolts that I mention here before - I had to drill those out, use a bolt extractor, and replace. I had completely stripped the heads out and tried all sorts of tricks before resorting to it, but in the end that was the only way I could get them out. They were in ... very very tightly. I put in some regular m8 1.25 Torx flat head bolts in their place. That has held up just fine.

I did install a BAMF reinforcement plate there. Not sure it will help too much, but it can't hurt. In doing so, I did have to remove the washer from the lower support post - otherwise it was sticking out just a bit too far and would occasionally hang up on the door.

About 6 months ago or so I had upgraded to 38's, which made my tailgate sag just a hair more than it had before - it would occasionally catch when trying to close it if you didn't kinda help it up along the way.

So last weekend, I had the right hand tail light out troubleshooting some other issues, and figured while I had it off, I would re-align the tailgate. Yeah... 2-3 hours later with the wife about to divorce me, I finally gave up. Every time I would make an adjustment it would just get worse. What started as being just a hair low ended up being almost 1/2" too low, and the thing made all sorts of bad noises while driving. It wasn't very happy.

So I went to a local body shop. He had never aligned a Bronco, but had done plenty of Jeeps. Didn't look too concerned, but was very careful to state - I stick two guys on it and it takes however long it takes. Appointment was 7 weeks out.

So I made the appointment, and this weekend decided to fidget with it again. This time, rather than dragging the wife back into it, I got the idea to drag out the hydraulic cart. I left the spare on the rear end, used a small wooden box on it to give the cart enough height, and used that to support and adjust the tailgate.

That... That worked perfectly. Was able to get the height set just right and the door closes now with zero effort! The hydraulic cart with the spare still on the tailgate made it very easy to make adjustments. Someone else here (sorry I forgot who, I would give credit if I could find it) mentioned not loosening the bolts entirely 2 turns as it says in the procedure, just get them sorta loose then knock it around with a deadblow/2x4. Between that and having the support on the hydraulic lift - perfection. I dare say, almost easy.

The body line is still a little out of whack from where it's twisted, that I don't think I can fix without the body shop or a new tailgate, but I'm going to call this a win provided it doesn't still make clunks and groans while out on the road.

Posting this here in case anyone else stumbles across it and starts to pull their hair out for tailgate adjustment.

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