Tag: Tailgate

What is up weekenders I’m Corbin. We’re overhauling my trunk. My trunk hasn’t really gotten a lot of attention. You can tell I just kind of throw stuff in here. I literally just have a mat, cover and that’s about it. I want to redo it and luckily my friends over at Tuffy have some solutions for that.

Today, we’re actually going to tackle the tailgate. We’re going to put a tailgate table there. I think I need a table. I do a lot of camping and repairs Off-road, so, I think a little table would be kind of rad. We’re going to check out the Tuffy tailgate table and get that guy installed. Let’s tackle this.

Unboxing

Here’s everything that comes with the kit. It’s pretty self-explanatory. It comes with very detailed instructions, a little top frame, the actual frame for the table the table itself, a bunch of hardware, a drill bit because this is going to require you to drill into your body so it is a little bit permanent. They do provide the drill bit you are going to need a drill and an allen key for some of these bolts. Then they provide all the little rubber washers and everything that you’re going to need.

Installation

Get these panels on and actually drill some holes so that we can get those rib nuts going. The table’s rated for 25 lbs. which seems like it could be pretty good. That’s enough for you know any kind of grill or tools that you want to put on here camping and stuff. I think it’s pretty good. It seems pretty quality and does have holes in it for Molle, so when it’s actually closed you could have Molle bags and whatnot attached to it. Pretty decent little quality clamps which is nice to see.

Anyways, let’s get these panels on. We’re going to pull off the panel so you’re just going to want to pull it from the bottom and there’s actually full tabs. It’s kind of violent but yeah you pull from the bottom. It kind of lifts out. It has these tabs I’ve already broken a bunch , so don’t do that! Pull it from the bottom. Once you have this plastic piece off you’re actually going to grab some of these rubber grommets or bushings whatever you want to call them, that come with a kit and you’re going to go ahead you’re going to put them into the top four slots. You’re actually going to have them facing the top of the holes and then these bigger ones are going to go on these larger slit or openings down at the bottom. Those are going to go on the bottom of the hole.

Once you have those little rubber bushings on there you’re going to grab this top piece and you see it actually has some tabs. Those tabs are just going to slide into those holes up top. It should just fit in. A nice snug fit nice very nice. Then you’re going to go ahead and grab the outer frame. The outer frame does have more hooks at the bottom. Those are going to go in the larger holes on the bottom. It does have one side that’s not attached. Don’t worry about that, that’s how it’s supposed to be. One side has a rivet and this will get bolted down after the fact but we’re going to go ahead you’re just going to slide this in and get it lined up with the top bracket.

You’ll see that there are some holes along here that it’s going to line up with this bracket, with the two brackets that’s actually going to bolt together along with two holes out here on the side. You’re going to go ahead and find the three screws that are going to go up top here. Then you’ll have two that will go on either side with the nut.

Okay, now that this is loosely put on with the hardware just kind of sitting in there you don’t need to go ahead and fully tighten it down ‘cuz we’re actually going to be taking this apart. You’re going to go ahead and we’re actually just going to go ahead and mark the holes now. Make sure that all these brackets line up and then you’re going to want want to find the four holes in the corners. Mark those holes on your body. You can use a Sharpie.

So, This Is The Moment of Truth.

Go ahead and drill this guy up. It does come with a drill stop. If you want, you can go ahead put the drill stop on here, so you don’t actually go through and hit your body. I’m going to go ahead and tighten this guy down on the drill bit and then we’ll just drill out these holes that we just marked. Okay then, you’re going to go ahead and locate the riv nuts. They also give you a little bit of grease to put on them because you are just going to kind of have to tap them in there slightly. They are kind of interference fit and then once you have it on the rivnut actually inside the Bronco tailgate you’ll take this little tool and kind of put it over the rib nut and then you’re going to go ahead and tighten down the screw with your Allen key. You’re going to do that until it’s nice and snug and doesn’t spin anymore.

You do not want to over tighten it ‘cuz it will spin and then it will be loose. So, it’s kind of finding that fine tuned spot for these.  All right, now we’re going to go ahead and start temporarily putting this stuff back in place. You can go ahead and put it in place but don’t fully start putting it together yet because we’re going to have to start putting some plastic washers and lock washers in certain areas. I went ahead and installed the three screws up top and the two screws and nuts on the side of the brackets because they do not require washers and it will hold it all in place from here on out.

You need to add some washers and it needs two of the black washers on the top two bolts that go into the riv nuts and then it’s going to use a lock ring on the outside to hold it all together. For the bottom set of bolts you’re going to use just one of the black washers in a lock ring except for the side that was loose, if you remember, I said that this side was loose you’re actually going to want to go ahead and you’re going to throw in the white washer in between the two parts so in between the loose part and the actual frame itself.

You will still put a washer on the back and a lock ring on the front but you will just include the little white washer. You’ll have two other white washers but those will be saved for the actual table once we install that. Okay, so now before you install this last bolt that goes into the rib nuts you’re actually going to want to install the table. That’s why it is detached so that it can flex out a little bit so that you can actually put the table in. You’ll notice these holes on the side of the table, you’re just going to go ahead put one of these washers on the little tab and you’re going on either side and then go ahead and slide the table on. You can take the little string for the table and hook it up into its respective hook. Once it’s on then we’ll go ahead and finish installing that last bolt.

Final Thoughts