Tailgate Hinge Upgrade

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Dude that OrFab interior piece is sweet!! Nice!
They overbuilt the hell out of their stuff before going away. It’s got even more interior supporting on the opposite side plate. Honestly I wouldn’t have gotten ride of it if it didn’t weigh so much. I just didn’t need the extra overhang and 70+lbs of steel. The one downside I saw was they drilled through the lower passenger side body mount boxes since the plate goes down on the outside to the bottom of the tub. That let some water get in and I need to plug weld it now that I’m not using it anymore. If you look closely you can see duct tape on the bottom on the tub outside where I’m keeping out rain for now.
 
I would counter that the Rusty’s piece is one contiguous unit without reusing the factory tire carrier but providing a solid steel engineered piece...it is boxed and welded steel. The hinge bolts are larger it seems all grade 8 fasteners greasable and the hinge system more robust with boxed hinge support, roll cage tie in and not just mild C channel steel. The exo looks like a good solution as well but for me it looks a lot more like some angle iron welded in a picture frame and not a engineered designed unit that fits with the other equipment on my rig...no bashing just from my point of view...
I’ve also never seen a tire carrier that hold up to its rep of handling a very large spare. If Rustys works in the long run it’s a great option for those using bigger rubber.
 
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They overbuilt the hell out of their stuff before going away. It’s got even more interior supporting on the opposite side plate. Honestly I wouldn’t have gotten ride of it if it didn’t weigh so much. I just didn’t need the extra overhang and 70+lbs of steel. The one downside I saw was they drilled through the lower passenger side body mount boxes since the plate goes down on the outside to the bottom of the tub. That let some water get in and I need to plug weld it now that I’m not using it anymore. If you look closely you can see duct tape on the bottom on the tub outside where I’m keeping out rain for now.
Yes I remember the drilling and it’s a lot of extra weight good idea keeping the good stuff on the inside and lightening your load on the tailgate itself
 
What is that behind the backseat with holes on the side?
Thats a storage rack system that gives you a couple levels of tie down storage behind the back seat...not for me but it would work great for "overlanding" carrying a bunch of boxes/fridge/tool drawers etc. I am sure