What's going on inside the tailgate? Looking for a fix for a loose threaded insert for one of the tire carrier bolts...

[MikekiM]

Been trying to track down an annoying rattle coming from the tailgate and narrowed it down to the top left tire carrier bolt.

I have the Rugged Ridge Spartacus HD Tailgate Hinge and the Spartacus HD Carrier. Both are in the queue to be replaced with a Bestop HighRock 4x4 Swing Away Carrier, but I fear the damage is done. The hinges are fine, but no doubt installing the swing away carrier isn't going to remedy the issue with the rattle.

All the carrier bolts are tight but if I apply a fair amount of hand pressure to the spare I can hear that the top left bolt is making a noise. With hand pressure it sounds like a click, but on the road it's a rattle. The spare isn't in jeopardy of coming off (famous last words) but I don't want to ignore a potential problem.

So, what's going on inside the tailgate? Are the carrier bolts going into some kind of nutsert? @AndyG suggested thru bolting which Is certainly a viable option, even with the change to the swing out carrier. I like the idea because when I install the swing out carrier I am installing the Bestop Overtire Cargo Carrier too so the added reinforcement wouldn't be a bad thing. If I went the thru bolt route I think I would drill out both upper bolts and use a single backing plate on the inside. Worried about water infiltration or worse, accumulation in the tailgate interior. Any other options? Maybe remove the RR tire carrier and spot weld the insert?

I have a vid of the clicking sound but for the life of me can't figure out how to post it. I suck at the inter web

 

[MikekiM]

Found this picture from when I installed the RR hinge set and was painting tailgate.. Looks like a simple threaded nutsert. If it's just welded to the inside of the outer tailgate skin and it has come loose I fear that if I remove the carrier bolt the nut will fall to the bottom inside of the tailgate and rattle around inside there forever.

Or, is it a single backing plate with three threaded holes, sandwiched between the tailgate skins?

It will be easy to thru bolt but impossible to retrieve the fallen nut. Maybe remove the tailgate latch cover and shake the loose bolt out through there? I suppose I could press a new nutsert into the vacant hole but that doesn't spread the load as well as thru bolting with a backing plate would.

Good news is that as long as the bolts remain tight I don't think there is any immediate danger of loosing the spare.

 

[Frank M]

I believe it's a threaded backing plate. I had a couple that were stripped and couldn't repair, so i drilled them out so the bolt would pass through the backing plate. Then I drilled a holes on the inside of tailgate so I could get a socket in there and used longer bolts and nut.

 

[MikekiM]

I believe it's a threaded backing plate. I had a couple that were stripped and couldn't repair, so i drilled them out so the bolt would pass through the backing plate. Then I drilled a holes on the inside of tailgate so I could get a socket in there and used longer bolts and nut.

Another good idea.. so you had a hole on the inside of the tailgate that needed to be plugged, but were able to reuse the backing plate sandwiching just the outer skin.

So it's a single backing plate with three holes? Any idea how the plate is affixed to the inside of the tailgate skin?

Mine aren't stripped. The backing plate is still usable but I'm surprised it's making noise given all the bolts are still tight.

Again, I wonder if I can gain access to the backing plate through where the tailgate lock mechanism is, from the inside.

 

[Frank M]

I didn’t see your pic when I posted. The backing plate was behind the factory hinge that I drilled out. The ones in your pic look to be farther out away from that location.
I did have to use plugs for mine.
The 3 in your pic nutserts. Like the ones for the snubbers for the tire.

 

[AndyG]

Found this picture from when I installed the RR hinge set and was painting tailgate.. Looks like a simple threaded nutsert. If it's just welded to the inside of the outer tailgate skin and it has come loose I fear that if I remove the carrier bolt the nut will fall to the bottom inside of the tailgate and rattle around inside there forever.

Or, is it a single backing plate with three threaded holes, sandwiched between the tailgate skins?

It will be easy to thru bolt but impossible to retrieve the fallen nut. Maybe remove the tailgate latch cover and shake the loose bolt out through there? I suppose I could press a new nutsert into the vacant hole but that doesn't spread the load as well as thru bolting with a backing plate would.

View attachment 393826

Good news is that as long as the bolts remain tight I don't think there is any immediate danger of loosing the spare.

I recently dropped an earbud in my truck dash vent- I bought a small donut magnet and put it on a string - I’m not sure it would be a good solution for a tailgate because of the metal but something to keep in mind.

If I lost an unretrievable bolt I would get tubing and spray spray foam all around it if I could pinpoint it.

Might drill that out and nutsert it.

 

[MikekiM]

I didn’t see your pic when I posted. The backing plate was behind the factory hinge that I drilled out. The ones in your pic look to be farther out away from that location.
I did have to use plugs for mine.
The 3 in your pic nutserts. Like the ones for the snubbers for the tire.

Ah.. the hinges are fine. The RR heavy duty hinge is a beast but I might have found its weak link. The tire carrier bolts on top of the hinge set on the two right side carrier bolts. The left side carrier bolts are direct to the gate with a small spacer under the top and bottom bolts to bring them to the height of the right side that’s sitting on top of the hinge. Possible the left side bolts that are not connected to the hinge took the brunt of the tire weight. Maybe.

I recently dropped an earbud in my truck dash vent- I bought a small donut magnet and put it on a string - I’m not sure it would be a good solution for a tailgate because of the metal but something to keep in mind.

If I lost an unretrievable bolt I would get tubing and spray spray foam all around it if I could pinpoint it.

Might drill that out and nutsert it.

Thought about the magnet but the gate us all metal. That’s what led me to the latch opening.

Should be easy to drill out the threads in the backing plate and nutsert it. I have plenty of them and it would retain the integrity of the large backing plate.

 

[Lou]

Just tap it to 3/8’s. It’s just a metal backing plate that is tapped to 5/16 from factory.