Tailgate Retainer Bar Clip Screw

T

THEREALJIM

TJ Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 28, 2019
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Location
Ohio
While I was washing the jeep I noticed the tailgate retainer bar clip was loose, so I went to tighten it down only to find out one of the screws is stripped.

Has anyone else ran into this problem and what was their solution? I'm thinking I'll just have to tap it and get some different hardware
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The best way is to weld up the hole and drill a new hole. I doubt you want to do that so one of many solutions is to take a small ball peen hammer and position the round end over the hole. Take another hammer and hit it lightly and check the surface of the hole with your hand for smoothness. Keep doing that until it’s smooth to the touch. The sheet metal will not be as strong as it was, but the screw should tighten up.
 
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I gooped mine up with 2-part epoxy and screwed it in. Of course, I only have a soft top, I'm not sure if those need to come off if you put on a hard too.
 
Daryl said:
The best way is to weld up the hole and drill a new hole. I doubt you want to do that so one of many solutions is to take a small ball peen hammer and position the round end over the hole. Take another hammer and hit it lightly and check the surface of the hole with your hand for smoothness. Keep doing that until it’s smooth to the touch. The sheet metal will not be as strong as it was, but the screw should tighten up.
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I'm not against the welding idea! I work with a bunch of welders so I could probably have one of them do it pretty quick
 
Either use a slightly larger screw or drill out the hole and put a nutsert in. Then just use a machine screw instead of a sheetmetal screw. Easy peasy.
 
Daryl said:
The best way is to weld up the hole and drill a new hole.
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Since no one has got this yet, I'll explain so ya'll will quit being dumb. The TJ tub sheetmetal has several surface prep coatings to reduce corrosion. One of those is a zinc based primer with a layer of normal primer over it. If that is not removed, then when the weld arc hits it, it blows a big hole in the sheet metal. So, if you want to weld up a tiny little hole, you need to remove all of the zinc coating, all of the primer and that is from both sides. Welds are flat or consistent in sheet metal so you also run the risk of grinding through the metal again when you get it smooth enough to not hold the bracket up off of the surface.

After that is done, now you have to stop both the inside and outside faces from rusting, do a primer, sand, coat, finish.

Your tiny little hole that can be fixed with a speed nut has now turned into a several hour job start to finish and it won't work any better than a simple nut on the back side.

Welding is the stupidest idea ever.
 
mrblaine said:
Since no one has got this yet, I'll explain so ya'll will quit being dumb. The TJ tub sheetmetal has several surface prep coatings to reduce corrosion. One of those is a zinc based primer with a layer of normal primer over it. If that is not removed, then when the weld arc hits it, it blows a big hole in the sheet metal. So, if you want to weld up a tiny little hole, you need to remove all of the zinc coating, all of the primer and that is from both sides. Welds are flat or consistent in sheet metal so you also run the risk of grinding through the metal again when you get it smooth enough to not hold the bracket up off of the surface.

After that is done, now you have to stop both the inside and outside faces from rusting, do a primer, sand, coat, finish.

Your tiny little hole that can be fixed with a speed nut has now turned into a several hour job start to finish and it won't work any better than a simple nut on the back side.

Welding is the stupidest idea ever.
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Thanks for the heads up! I don't know jack about that so I was just open to suggestions lol

But I did just notice this morning that the screws are visible through the inside of the jeep, I was under the assumption that they were covered. Guess I should have looked harder before I posted this!😣 lol

I'll probably be going with your idea of a speed nut since I think I have a few lying around at work. Thanks for the advice!
 
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THEREALJIM said:
Thanks for the heads up! I don't know jack about that so I was just open to suggestions lol

But I did just notice this morning that the screws are visible through the inside of the jeep, I was under the assumption that they were covered. Guess I should have looked harder before I posted this!😣 lol

I'll probably be going with your idea of a speed nut since I think I have a few lying around at work. Thanks for the advice!
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It really doesn't take much. Got some 1/4" ABS plastic laying around? Cut a piece 4" long, 3/4" wide, lay it behind the 2 holes on the inside, drill a small pilot hole to make the locations, screw in the sheet metal screws. Works for the flares, it will work for the retainers.
 
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mrblaine said:
It really doesn't take much. Got some 1/4" ABS plastic laying around? Cut a piece 4" long, 3/4" wide, lay it behind the 2 holes on the inside, drill a small pilot hole to make the locations, screw in the sheet metal screws. Works for the flares, it will work for the retainers.
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And license plates...
 
mrblaine said:
It really doesn't take much. Got some 1/4" ABS plastic laying around? Cut a piece 4" long, 3/4" wide, lay it behind the 2 holes on the inside, drill a small pilot hole to make the locations, screw in the sheet metal screws. Works for the flares, it will work for the retainers.
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That's also a great idea! I'm not sure its ABS plastic, but I do have a lot of Lexan plastic at my work, I'll have to snag a strip and try it out!
 
When I replaced my top the areas around the holes were raised up. I hammered them flat which closed the holes a little and gave good bite to the new screws. If it doesnt last I'll add a backer.
 
I welded mine I sanded down the holes to bare metal welded it cleaned up the weld taped off the small spots and put a couple light coats of primer then paint and then let it dry for for 10 mins and put a couple light coats of paint. All in all took about an hour. And screws are nice and tight the bracket covers the spot that were painted so I didn’t care that it didn’t look perfect.
 
Ajwatuc said:
I welded mine I sanded down the holes to bare metal welded it cleaned up the weld taped off the small spots and put a couple light coats of primer then paint and then let it dry for for 10 mins and put a couple light coats of paint. All in all took about an hour. And screws are nice and tight the bracket covers the spot that were painted so I didn’t care that it didn’t look perfect.
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Way too much work when a couple flat nuts from the hardware store would have fixed you up in a jiffy
 
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