Initially my plan was to get a bed rug and use it on top of this if I wanted to sit on the tailgate, but I was surprised at how comfortable it actually was. I may hold off the bed rug until Iāve used it a bit, but itās āin my quiverā if I need it.
Durability is a little bit of a concern with marine foam flooring used on the tailgate. You donāt want to throw anything with sharp edges on it.
Yeah, lots of options there.
Solid copy. Itās literally going to be my kitchen table. No hauling stuff in and out of the bed in general. Worst case is that it can always be resurfaced.
Kick ass write up. Class act on both sides of the fence. Do I need one, nope. Will I add it to my list...... absolutelyBuckle up!! It's gonna be a big post...
"Brown" dropped off my BillieBars Tailgate Cover last night, so we had a little unboxing ceremony in the kitchen:
All in all, it came well packaged and undamaged. It's at this point I looked over the product and will tell you it is very well made. The 1/8" aluminum is robust enough for what I need it to do and the 1/4" of Marine Grade Foam Padding is nice enough to sit on or to provide a little cushion for my knees as I climb in and out.
Sunday morning. Shall we install it? Pitter Patter.
Before removing anything off of the tailgate I checked the fitment:
Everything seemed to line up well AND, as @BillieBars stated in a previous post, the tailgate cover has been shortened so that it does not rest on the ridge at the bottom of the tailgate (closest to the hinge):
Once I removed the long panel at the top of the tailgate, you can see where the cup holder holes are in relation to the latch release linkages. It's worth noting that the cup holders do not sit down far enough to interfere with the linkages anyway.
My first concern was that there is a significant gap between the aluminum plate and the tailgate metal into which the bolt will thread and thought about getting some spacers to stabilize things. I could not get a great picture of this, but in the below pic you can see a little "shaft of light" below the aluminum plate in line with the bolt's axis. That little bit of light is basically the gap I'm referring to; maybe an inch(?):
After playing around with it a bit, I think the plate is strong enough to not deform upon tightening and decided to forego spacers. I can always add them later if I see something that indicates they are needed.
I did have a small issue with the bolt hole alignment on the 2 center bolt holes that I addressed with a step reamer; a rat tail file would work as well. I just needed the holes to be maybe 1/16" closer to each other. I don't think this is an issue with the tailgate cover exclusively. I'm sure Jeep isn't terribly meticulous with the placement of these holes at installation. In this pic you can see how one bolt was just a little off and was trying to go in at an angle:
Now the actual install. One thing that I wanted to address was several gaps between the flat aluminum cover and the contoured tailgate. I used butyl tape along the top edge and in the "divots" at the bottom edge:
If you've never used this stuff before...it's awesome!!!
Because it's "squishy", it will fill the gaps and squeeze out the excess. Note that in this next picture, the backing is still on as I was checking placement (the white paper backing does get removed).
A little butyl tape at the bottom of the contours because the plate just reaches the bottom and there is an ever so slight gap. Also note in this pic that I did leave the small panel installed for stability leaving two of the original bolts.
Everything is lined up and looking good:
Time to squish and trim:
All set!
HOWEVER.... I'm not happy with the gap at the bottom of the panel. @Hootbro called this out in an earlier post with regards to the Mountain Hatch Board that he had.
Now this may just be the nature of the beast and as so many people on this site say "Well, it's just a Jeep thing"...but It's not a "HooliganActual thing"!!!
Let's fix it:
Bore out a hole in the surface material to look something like the production holes:
Hard to tell from the next picture, but I've drilled a pilot hole in the tailgate metal for a #10 sheet metal screw.
Et VoilĆ !
And now my OCD can take a break!!!
If I were to suggest one thing to be different with this product, this would be it: I know a lot of people want to just bolt things in and be done with it. They may not have the gumption, tools, etc. to do that last step. If this tailgate cover had the option for a pair of holes to accommodate that last step, it would be nice. You could have the look of the other holes with a matching sheet metal screw to better hold down those corners.
In Summary:
Is it worth $300? I will tell you without hesitation that there is $300 worth of craftsmanship, materials, etc. in the BillieBars Tailgate cover. No doubt about it!!
Is it worth $300 to me? Absolutely! Based on my use case (and if you've read my previous dissertation on the last page of this thread), this was a nice solution to issues that have pestered me in my overlanding adventures and makes for a nice work surface at the back of my rig:
And just one last thing. @BillieBars needs to get these Koozies out to the world because they are GENIUS!!!!
THEY HAVE MAGNETS!!!! LOL
(That's a full can BTW and it holds the weight just fine. Hopefully your cans aren't always full, though)
I considered doing my entire bed in this stuff. I might still.
That was my thought tooā¦ from the source with the pre drilled holes in the cover and include the nutserts would be preferable to having to drill and use sheet metal screws.
Exactly. While plenty of people would be content the way it is, users on this forum arenāt generally averse to something like drilling a hole and adding a nutsert if it results in stronger, more stable, better finish, etc.
I saw a friends Mountain Hatch and wanted one, but couldn't justify the price. I made my own with Starboard and, while I don't have the nifty machining for cupholders and a flag, I did address the gap when I installed using nylon standoff spacers. I'm actually quite surprised Mountain Hatch didn't use them as it's a good-sized gap between the board and tailgate!
You know, Iāve never had the Mountain Hatch or DeeZee boards so I canāt officially compare, but I spent 30 years in the food industry and know exactly what to expect from UHMW or HDPE as we used it extensively. Over time, it warps and in 5 years it probably wonāt look anything like it started.
I never went back in and added the spacers. I was "worried" that there would be enough flex and it would allow those bolts to loosen over time but that just hasn't happened. It's been well over a year now and they have not come loose, so I just don't see the need to go back in with spacers. If I ever have to take the cover off for any reason I would reassemble it with spacers but for now it will remain spacer-less.
