So nearly everyone with a softy sierra and bigger tyres hanging off the tailgate will have or will be suffering from the hinges ripping out of the body due to the extra weight. In my case I also have a jerrycan, shovel and axe as well as a 30"spare hanging off it so it started to crack. Needed to fix it before my tailgate fell off somewhere on the bruce between cairns and briz on my trip back.
Armed again with my trusty angle grinder, a lenght of 50x50x4mm gal angle and a handful of nuts n bolts I did this:
Cut the inner body skin behind the fuel tank filler neck so I could gain access to the hinge mounts. Cut a length of gal and positioned it inside the body:
I drilled out the thread of the original hinge captive nuts and placed another piece of gal on the outerside of the body. These were sandwiched together with both the original hinge bolts and inner nuts as well as alongside of the angle.
I also modified the outer gal angle in the press to get a closer fit to the body.
Feels a heap stronger now!! If it cracks now it will most likely take half the body with it
Dan
