What's going on inside the tailgate?

[MikekiM]

Mounting a few things to the inside of the tailgate. In particular, along the bottom four inches where the metal is flat.

Thought I would use nutserts, but tapping the sheet metal it sounds pretty solid along that bottom strip. One of the items I'll be mounting will be a trail table and I expect I may need an adjustable pole to use as a leg, though I would rather not if possible. I don't need to hold much weight.. a butane burner, kettle of water, some condiments and a tequila or three.

What am I looking at.. nutserts or sheet metal screws?

 

[Moglocker]

Mounting a few things to the inside of the tailgate. In particular, along the bottom four inches where the metal is flat.

Thought I would use nutserts, but tapping the sheet metal it sounds pretty solid along that bottom strip. One of the items I'll be mounting will be a trail table and I expect I may need an adjustable pole to use as a leg, though I would rather not if possible. I don't need to hold much weight.. a butane burner, kettle of water, some condiments and a tequila or three.

What am I looking at.. nutserts or sheet metal screws?

Nurtserts

 

[MikekiM]

Nurtserts

I'll start with some really small holes to test what's behind and then upsize for the nutserts.
That said, it sure sounds like there is a lot of ribbing in there..

 

[thedustyboot]

I used nutserts, just watch the wire for your third brake light if you still have it.

Then you can get creative with what material you want and use the bottom of the table to tool storage if you so choose.

I just used some hinges and hardware that were laying around the shop and some downrigger cable on one end to support it. Supports a camp stove no problem.

 

[jjvw]

Mounting a few things to the inside of the tailgate. In particular, along the bottom four inches where the metal is flat.

Thought I would use nutserts, but tapping the sheet metal it sounds pretty solid along that bottom strip. One of the items I'll be mounting will be a trail table and I expect I may need an adjustable pole to use as a leg, though I would rather not if possible. I don't need to hold much weight.. a butane burner, kettle of water, some condiments and a tequila or three.

What am I looking at.. nutserts or sheet metal screws?

There are a pair of internal stiffeners that run across the length of the gate roughly in line with the hinge bolts. In between those is all empty space.

If you had a 03-06 gate, you could remove the vent and see them.

 

[MikekiM]

There are a pair of internal stiffeners that run across the length of the gate roughly in line with the hinge bolts. In between those is all empty space.

If you had a 03-06 gate, you could remove the vent and see them.

Excellent.. then the stiffeners are right where I wanted to put it.

 

[LJDC]

When I was installing the fourth of four bolts, I ran into a rail or something. It seemed to run vertically , but maybe it was a bolt from the hinge or something.

I didn’t spend a lot of time on it. I covered the hole with a plug and drilled a new one. The mistake is covered by the table backing plate.

 

[chili_pepper]

The mistake new inspection port is covered by the table backing plate.

FIFY!

 

[MikekiM]

When I was installing the fourth of four bolts, I ran into a rail or something. It seemed to run vertically , but maybe it was a bolt from the hinge or something.

I didn’t spend a lot of time on it. I covered the hole with a plug and drilled a new one. The mistake is covered by the table backing plate.

The bracket I am installing has half a dozen holes in it and my use case won’t require that I use all of them so I can do what you did.