Ugh, I Spilled My Drink Again!
- Aaron Dodell
- May 23, 2020
- 2 min read
I can not understand Toyota’s super lame engineering decision behind the large ribs found in their plastic tail gate design. Geeze, those things are super painful on the knees and a huge safety hazard when either trying to place a drink down or use a stove that does not span across two ribs. Ugh! nothing better than tipping over a pot of boiling water because something can NOT lay flat... There had to be something better and thankfully, Relentless Fabrication out of Sparks, NV, has a solution!
They make a single piece, tail gate reinforcement panel which is CNC cut and formed on a press brake for an exact fit. The panel is 0.10” thick aluminum with a black powder coat option that weighs 13lbs. Not only does the panel add strength and rigidity to the tail gate, but OMG – a flat surface to safely place things like stoves, drinks, and to sit on comfortably. No more worries that my stove will tip over while cooking a meal at the campsite!
Relentless Fabrication recommends purchasing qty = 8 PN 90116-60003 button head screws for a flusher fit, which I did from my local dealership. Installation was simple as one just needs a Torx 30 bit to deal with the screws. Packaging was spot on upon arrival, and the job took about 30 minutes to complete.
After two years of use both at home and on camping trips, there are no major problems with the tail gate panel. However with any powder coated surface, it is not 100% bullet proof. I have gotten scratches from moving gear in/out of the truck bed. At this time, I just painted them over with a black Sharpie. In addition with the 13lb weight, the tail gate lowers a lot faster than before. I worry that over enough cycles the gas shocks, which I am sure Toyota spec’d for a lighter stock load, might wear out causing the tail gate to slam down. We shall see.
Another option (and quite new to the marketplace) is a tail gate replacement from Mountain Hatch. Instead of an all metal surface, the tail gate top face surface is comprised of a heavy duty, FDA approved, 0.5” thick plastic with UV inhibitors. It is like your whole tail gate is one big cutting board! Pretty cool in that they are located in Lake Elsinore, CA, and you can get it color matched to your Tacoma.
Both companies make excellent solutions to a problem that should not exist in the first place. No more banged up knees nor spilled drinks!
Comments