Shortened Tailgate Snubs

[YonderNorthwest]

Seen lots of discussion on here about how to lengthen the tailgate snubs to accommodate spare tires resting further from the tailgate, but none about shortening them. A while back I tried cutting one of the snubs down with a saw. End product looked like shit and wasn't short enough to fit.

Running a 31" tire with no snubs currently and the rattling is driving me nuts. Door is latching fully, but I can still hear it rattling constantly.

Thinking maybe I could buy some button-head bolts that are a bit longer and use those in place of the snubs. Not sure if using steel in place of rubber would be wise...

Any and all suggestions welcome. Please make the rattling stop!

 

[707kevin]

Figure out the size you need, and find an alternative product. A door stopper, a cut up rubber mallet, appliance rubber feet, something else that will work for you.

 

[MountaineerTom]

Do you have a vise you can put the snubbers in? I marked where I wanted to cut mine, put them in a vise at that mark and used the vise as a guide to cut them with a hack saw. I think using the vise as a guide was the key to a clean cut.

 

[YonderNorthwest]

Do you have a vise you can put the snubbers in? I marked where I wanted to cut mine, put them in a vise at that mark and used the vise as a guide to cut them with a hack saw. I think using the vise as a guide was the key to a clean cut.

View attachment 300211 View attachment 300213

Good call on the vise. I'll give that a try. I tried free handing the puck with a low-speed mounted blade last time.

Thanks

 

[OldBuzzard]

You can make a spacer for the spare tire mount to move the wheel out a little way, and you won't have to cut the snubs quite as short. The PO did this one out of dense plastic, probably about 3/8" thick. You can see how short the snubs were cut for the 31" tires.

 

[OldBuzzard]

You need to have the snubs tight enough for a little tension to keep the tire steady, but not too much tension so it bows out your tailgate or tears out the bolts. Getting that just right is the fun part. Try small 2x4 blocks for snubs and shave them down to get to the right thickness before cutting the rubber ones.

 

[03coloradowrangler]

I purchased a wheel spacer kit and put one on the spare mount and tossed the other. shuts fine, doesn't rattle. no modifications done to the oe tire snubs.

 

[Dublin]

I'm pretty sure the YJ snubs are shorter by about 1/2". I had a couple of them but may have thrown them out.

 

[Vtx531]

What about stacks of washers on the spare tire lugs?

On second thought, this is why my mom told me not to mod my Jeep when I was a teenager. Ex: The hinges are engineered to tolerate a certain maximum weight, leverage, tension, etc.

 

[LONGJP2]

... no modifications done to the oe tire snubs.

If the snubbers are no longer touching, you will accelerate the hinge wear and possibly cause stress cracks in the tailgate.

 

[03coloradowrangler]

If the snubbers are no longer touching, you will accelerate the hinge wear and possibly cause stress cracks in the tailgate.

Exactly… I am more than well aware of that.
Which is why I used a spacer… to take the load generated by the slightly wider 31” tire off of the tailgate without modifying the snubs. @oldbuzzard photo above shows nearly exactly what I did, short of the need to cut down the snubbers. I’d say about a 3/8 spacer is correct.

Prior to using a wheel spacer on the spare mount, the tailgate would shut hard and aggressively pop open when unlatching the tailgate.

After using a spacer between the tire and mount the tailgate closes much easier doesn’t pop open as aggressively when unlatching and the snubs still make enough contact with the tire to indent them when it’s mounted.

The overall goal of the spacer was to take just a little bit of a load off of the tailgate itself from the snubs rather than resorting to hacking up and cutting OE hardware. Not to push the tire out so far that it no longer makes contact with anything, defeating the purpose of what the snubbers are intended for.

 

[freedom_in_4low]

I just lopped it off with a sawzall. Don't care how it looks, it's hidden behind the spare tire unless I'm changing it. Discount Tire's technicians are the only other people on earth that ever see it.

 

[primetime4]

You can buy snubbers in 2 different sizes. Roughly 1.6 and 1.8 inches. Not sure if factory comes with the shorter but you can measure an determine if it will work.

The longer snubbers were still too short to use with my 31 inch tire on 3.75 inch backspaced wheel. I imagine you have a factory wheel with less backspacing so one of these should work.

 

[YonderNorthwest]

Unfortunately I don't think the washer/spacer solution on the bolts will work for me. I've got so little space between the tire and the tailgate that I can just get a finger in between them. I'd need about 2 inches more of clearance to make the stock snubs fit, and at that point I doubt there would be enough bolt left to mount the spare tire lugs. I think I'm gonna have to go the route Tom and Joe did.

Thanks