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Tailgate mat suggestion

Jake

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Hey @ralphjjr and @bgenlvtex you may be interested in this idea I dreamed up. I have a rather simple idea for anyone thinking of attaching a rubber mat to the tailgate of your Gladiator. Most people would think that you would just have to use metal screws that will get unscrewed in no time at all. But if you look at how the tailgate is put together you will see that there’s 2 panels that can be easily removed. The bolts that you see in this picture have normal threads on them like normal bolts do. Earlier today when I was at Hendrick Jeep getting my truck ordered we unscrewed one of these bolts and could then see it’s a normal bolt thread.

So here’s what you do. Take both the square and rectangular covers off. Then for the section that does not have a cover place a rubber mat over that section and start drilling small holes. Then from the top insert bolts with washers. Reach through the open sections and put on lock nuts. I doubt it you will need to use inside washers.

Next comes the fun part. Re-attach the square section. Place your square section of rubber over the square metal section and drill 4 more holes making certain that they are not where the other 4 bolts are located. Now unbolt the square cover and insert bolts through the new 4 holes and through the square cover. This is just to hold things in place. Flip this over. Now you will need to drill 4 holes into the rubber. Drill from where the corner holes are in the metal cover down into the rubber.

You can now take this cover with the bolted on rubber and bolt it back on to the tailgate since you will now have holes through the rubber going directly to the holes in the cover.

Repeat process for the larger cover. And sorry but I can’t show you what this will look like as I don’t have my truck yet to put it on. Just now know how to do it without using those worthless metal screws

Oh and you might want to use double sided tape on the outer edges on the rectangular piece.

Who ever does that first post pictures please. You can get a 5 X 7 piece of rubber from Westin/Real Truck and cut for the bed and have plenty left over for the tailgate.
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bgenlvtex

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Hey @ralphjjr and @bgenlvtex you may be interested in this idea I dreamed up. I have a rather simple idea for anyone thinking of attaching a rubber mat to the tailgate of your Gladiator. Most people would think that you would just have to use metal screws that will get unscrewed in no time at all. But if you look at how the tailgate is put together you will see that there’s 2 panels that can be easily removed. The bolts that you see in this picture have normal threads on them like normal bolts do. Earlier today when I was at Hendrick Jeep getting my truck ordered we unscrewed one of these bolts and could then see it’s a normal bolt thread.

So here’s what you do. Take both the square and rectangular covers off. Then for the section that does not have a cover place a rubber mat over that section and start drilling small holes. Then from the top insert bolts with washers. Reach through the open sections and put on lock nuts. I doubt it you will need to use inside washers.

Next comes the fun part. Re-attach the square section. Place your square section of rubber over the square metal section and drill 4 more holes making certain that they are not where the other 4 bolts are located. Now unbolt the square cover and insert bolts through the new 4 holes and through the square cover. This is just to hold things in place. Flip this over. Now you will need to drill 4 holes into the rubber. Drill from where the corner holes are in the metal cover down into the rubber.

You can now take this cover with the bolted on rubber and bolt it back on to the tailgate since you will now have holes through the rubber going directly to the holes in the cover.

Repeat process for the larger cover. And sorry but I can’t show you what this will look like as I don’t have my truck yet to put it on. Just now know how to do it without using those worthless metal screws

Oh and you might want to use double sided tape on the outer edges on the rectangular piece.

Who ever does that first post pictures please. You can get a 5 X 7 piece of rubber from Westin/Real Truck and cut for the bed and have plenty left over for the tailgate.
I'm going to need some alcohol engineering assistance and read that again later
 
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Jake

Jake

Well-Known Member
First Name
Jake
Joined
Nov 29, 2018
Threads
68
Messages
1,869
Reaction score
1,517
Location
Charleston,SC
Vehicle(s)
Gladiator Sport
Use these type of washers with bolts and lock nuts inside and tailgate to secure the mat.

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