Found limits of departure angle, need new tailgate

[Apparition]

Info on tonneau covering the rear?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004K25HFW?tag=wranglerorg-20

 

[freedom_in_4low]

Yep. No spare on the gate. If you must, air it down to nothing so the tire can collapse when it hits something.

I think that runs the risk of damage too because it'll be shaking around unsupported without putting any resistance against the bottom snubber.

 

[Apparition]

I put mine vertical to one side but that's basically how I finished the trip. Fortunately it was on the last wheeling day so I didn't have to deal with loading and unloading my gear around it every night. I didn't even try laying it flat, didn't think it would, but I guess you prove it does.

View attachment 639011

Not gonna lie I do love the visibility out the back without a 35 in the way, and gently closing the tailgate instead of having to give it the beans to compress it against the snubber.

 

[chili_pepper]

I put mine vertical to one side but that's basically how I finished the trip. Fortunately it was on the last wheeling day so I didn't have to deal with loading and unloading my gear around it every night. I didn't even try laying it flat, didn't think it would, but I guess you prove it does.

View attachment 639011

Not gonna lie I do love the visibility out the back without a 35 in the way, and gently closing the tailgate instead of having to give it the beans to compress it against the snubber.

That'd be a really cool photo of the Jeep behind if it wasn't for all your shit cluttering the shot.

 

[freedom_in_4low]

although if you all have stock axle bolt patterns, having a spare in every other Jeep might be an option.

Could be an option. There are 3 of us in TJ's. The guy with 35s is talking about going to Dana 60 axles at some point and the other guy has 33's, so not ideal but it would get me out.

 

[freedom_in_4low]

Looks effective, but a little small. I bought a few of these for similar reason, they're about a foot wide, and the one on my Jeep has taken a few hard hits just fine. https://www.extremeterrain.com/body-armor-4x4-backbone-hitch-step-5136.html

View attachment 638979

Oh, I like that. Still need to beef up my rear crossmember (tie the two rears together to box them in and make more resistant to twisting) but I've saved that on my shopping list along with gluetread.

 

[mrblaine]

I am looking into Gluetread to see if I can talk myself into believing in it enough to go spareless.

We all have our own sensibilities about stuff but I learned my lesson about telling folks what to do about their tires the hard way. I told a buddy that we leave our spares in camp and he would really appreciate not having it hanging off the gate and upsetting the balance. He argued a bit and finally took it off and chained it to a car hauler.

About 150 yards into the trail, he sliced a sidewall open. We were past anything that would allow us to turn around. I ran the trail all the way out, back to camp, and then came around behind him to deliver his spare to him. They managed to puncture the sidewall on the other side somehow when they were trying to jack it up and get the bad tire off. We were able to plug that one but I am pretty sure that Gluetread won't fix a 6-7" slice for long if at all. Maybe something smaller on an easier trail, but not that big and not out there. Doesn't mean I'm not a fan, I just have some doubts.

 

[Woodrow]

We all have our own sensibilities about stuff but I learned my lesson about telling folks what to do about their tires the hard way. I told a buddy that we leave our spares in camp and he would really appreciate not having it hanging off the gate and upsetting the balance. He argued a bit and finally took it off and chained it to a car hauler.

About 150 yards into the trail, he sliced a sidewall open. We were past anything that would allow us to turn around. I ran the trail all the way out, back to camp, and then came around behind him to deliver his spare to him. They managed to puncture the sidewall on the other side somehow when they were trying to jack it up and get the bad tire off. We were able to plug that one but I am pretty sure that Gluetread won't fix a 6-7" slice for long if at all. Maybe something smaller on an easier trail, but not that big and not out there. Doesn't mean I'm not a fan, I just have some doubts.

Like many (most?) thing in life, its a risk/benefit analysis.

 

[mrblaine]

Like many (most?) thing in life, its a risk/benefit analysis.

I'm aware but unlike most things, this one depends on being able to accurately evaluate a posted solution when it may not actually be a solution. If I was certain I could fix a 6" slice well enough to finish a trail and get back to camp out there, I'd buy the kits and pass them out like candy. Semi-related but another time our buddy was unfamiliar with the road to the trail and having a passenger. By the time we were halfway to the trail on a typical road out there, he had managed to hole and or slice 3 of his 5 tires. I used some flexible super glue with plugs and boot laces, sewed up one of them and was able to plug another to get back to camp. We removed the bad tires and loaned him some to get to town to purchase 3 new tires since he managed to do that on Day 1 of a 7 day adventure.

 

[freedom_in_4low]

We all have our own sensibilities about stuff but I learned my lesson about telling folks what to do about their tires the hard way. I told a buddy that we leave our spares in camp and he would really appreciate not having it hanging off the gate and upsetting the balance. He argued a bit and finally took it off and chained it to a car hauler.

About 150 yards into the trail, he sliced a sidewall open. We were past anything that would allow us to turn around. I ran the trail all the way out, back to camp, and then came around behind him to deliver his spare to him. They managed to puncture the sidewall on the other side somehow when they were trying to jack it up and get the bad tire off. We were able to plug that one but I am pretty sure that Gluetread won't fix a 6-7" slice for long if at all. Maybe something smaller on an easier trail, but not that big and not out there. Doesn't mean I'm not a fan, I just have some doubts.

that's exactly the situation I'm worried about. The spots most likely to damage a tire that way would usually be a 6+ hour round trip to town with fingers crossed that there's a shop that's open and has the right tire. And that's not even considering that a lot of these trails are too narrow to turn around so if the disabled vehicle is in front, you're doing a gnarly half a mile over a 300 foot drop in reverse to get out.

 

[macleanflood]

Who needs a spare. Folks usually leave them all over the place. =)

-Mac

 

[JMT]

Me and the guys were talking about that after this and while at the offroad parks this is an easy option (and one I will probably go with simply out of convenience and not carrying 90lbs on the tailgate all the time), this particular trip is backcountry where we often go 20-30 and even as much as 45 miles between towns where the most technical sections are brief but almost always in between and as far as possible from start and finish. We through-wheel and set up camp in a new place every night so there's no place to stash a spare. Slicing a sidewall without a spare could easily kill an entire day out of a 3 day trip that we've all planned for, taken PTO, made arrangements for childcare (one guy is a widower with 3 kids under 10), and driven hundreds of miles for. I know anything can happen but I just can't see screwing it up as the only person not carrying one.

I am looking into Gluetread to see if I can talk myself into believing in it enough to go spareless.

The other TJ's were about to follow me in until I called out on the radio not to. Their tailgates would have fared better because they both run bumper mounted spare tire carriers but with the shorter wheelbase I'm not sure they wouldn't have hit bumper first and tumbled over onto their roofs. I dug mud out of the bottom with my fairlead.



View attachment 639010

I'm being a bit of a butthead in my original post just for fun. I know it doesn't make sense until it does make sense. Usually it's too late and the tailgate is bent up. There's also the fact that there's all that weight back there which affects performance, though I have seen a guy pointed straight up in the sky and rest on his spare tire LOL. So, it may have saved him, but would he have been pointed straight up in the sky without it to begin with? I have no way of knowing.

I have GlueTread and Safety Seal Tire Repair Kit. Won't fix every possibility, but also won't destroy my tailgate. TJ's are a big challenge to find a place for a spare with the shorter wheel base. LJ is a bit more friendly, but putting it n the bed eats up a lot of the rear tub space.

My justification is that there is no such thing as a no-compromise build. I try to make educated compromises. This is one I'm open to making, especially if I'm wheeling with others with the same tire size and bolt pattern, but I tell someone in the group in advance that I'm wheeling without a spare and ask in advance if it would be okay if I borrowed there's given the possibility. I have never had to do that yet, but it could happen.

 

[Woodrow]

...make educated compromises...

 

[macleanflood]

I usually wheel with the less prepared. As such I'm often the only one with tools and spare parts.

I've considered carrying wheel adapters but rejected it as too costly, too bulky and too impractical.

When I was broken down at Loon Lake and folks pushed ahead to the springs, I camped with another group. They were amazed at how many tools and parts I was carrying. I think they had a crescent wrench, a screwdriver and a roll of tape between 5 vehicles.

-Mac

 

[JMT]

I usually wheel with the less prepared. As such I'm often the only one with tools and spare parts.

I've considered carrying wheel adapters but rejected it as too costly, too bulky and too impractical.

When I was broken down at Loon Lake and folks pushed ahead to the springs, I camped with another group. They were amazed at how many tools and parts I was carrying. I think they had a crescent wrench, a screwdriver and a roll of tape between 5 vehicles.

-Mac

So far I've had what I needed and been able to contribute to others on the trail who needed help except one time (and I was 10 minutes from the house so it was no big deal and I knew that). I carry what I consider minimalist/maximalist. It's the minimum you need for the maximum type of situations faced.

 

[freedom_in_4low]

I usually wheel with the less prepared. As such I'm often the only one with tools and spare parts.

I've considered carrying wheel adapters but rejected it as too costly, too bulky and too impractical.

When I was broken down at Loon Lake and folks pushed ahead to the springs, I camped with another group. They were amazed at how many tools and parts I was carrying. I think they had a crescent wrench, a screwdriver and a roll of tape between 5 vehicles.

-Mac

same...I pulled out my M18 impact to drop the spare and their minds = blown. 4 years doing this trip and haven't run into a situation that we didn't have a tool for. I recently slimmed down and got everything into a Milwaukee bag and a tool roll that both fit in the passenger rear footwell, no more toolbox.

I'm being a bit of a butthead in my original post just for fun. I know it doesn't make sense until it does make sense. Usually it's too late and the tailgate is bent up. There's also the fact that there's all that weight back there which affects performance, though I have seen a guy pointed straight up in the sky and rest on his spare tire LOL. So, it may have saved him, but would he have been pointed straight up in the sky without it to begin with? I have no way of knowing.

yeah, removing 90 pounds from as high as it is and cantilevered off the rear axle has to be helpful.

 

[LONGJP2]

I move the spare from the tailgate to the bed floor only when doing harder trails.
Although. it wasn't an option on the Rubicon due to the extra camping gear needed.
I hardly ever run with the back seat anymore, so I'm looking for a better rear storage solution.

 

[Woodrow]

I move the spare from the tailgate to the bed floor only when doing harder trails.
Although. it wasn't an option on the Rubicon due to the extra camping gear needed.
I hardly ever run with the back seat anymore, so I'm looking for a better rear storage solution.

I'm planning something like this:

 

[LJ owner]

I've got a white 2000 tailgate off a Jeep I'm parting out if you need it.

-Mac

Do you have half doors?

 

[NashvilleTJ]

Who needs a spare. Folks usually leave them all over the place. =)

-Mac

Is there a Trep Sticky in there, Mac?