Community Forums

Rick 2005 Dolphin 5376 · 05-12-2008, 12:11 PM

I think you are right. Had I done one of two things the strap could of not been needed. A, move the mounting point of the tailgate bracket, (tough because of the lack of place to drill holes) or B, use a strut with about 1.0" less travel. Because of the way I mounted things, the rod of the strut pinched on the weather seal of the tailgate. Now with the addition of the strap, that problem is gone. Please post a pic of an install. I'd like to see where my engineering went wrong. :-(

CoolTech · 05-13-2008, 06:39 AM

Hey Rick, I don't think there's anything wrong with your engineering. Rather, I think you have implemented a particularly elegant solution. Likely you have seen some of the "hideous" implementations of this strut over on the Jeep forums... especially some of the early ones done last year. (Yuk!)

The "trick", as you mentioned, is in trying to find good solid mounting points and the fasteners that will work well in them. Having benefited from the trials and tribulations of maybe more than a dozen owners implementing a strut, we have a final design that I believe will work well. I'll snap some pics by the weekend and post them up for you to see. Again, I think your design and implementation is just great!

Rick 2005 Dolphin 5376 · 05-13-2008, 07:00 AM

I look forward to seeing your work. Always interested in seeing the things that people will invent that Jeep could of done right in the first place. I have a list of them.

CoolTech · 05-14-2008, 10:07 PM

Hi Rick,

I hope all is great with you. The product is finally ready to go. Frankly, one of the hardest parts was getting the right fasteners that could easily be installed by the owner and that would work well when mounting in reinforced (double wall)areas. We purposely chose double-wall areas for the highest strength and durability.... and came up with some nice stainless fasteners that work real well. Please note from the pictures that the strut works fine with the gate in the fully-open position. I expect the product to be very popular. Like you, I think it's funny how we lived without this. Take care and drive safe!

UPS 34 · 05-15-2008, 12:09 AM

Just ordered the Strut. I hope there not all sold out. I ordered it 2 hours after it was posted. I have the harness now and works great and is 100 % Quality. Looks like the strut will be the same.

Rick 2005 Dolphin 5376 · 05-15-2008, 05:20 AM

Nice. A couple of differences. I mounted my tailgate bracket behind the plastic panel. Not enough sold metal back there but I like the look of hiding the bracket. You adding length to the interior bracket fixed what went wrong with mine when the strut was pinching the weather strip. Nice clean kit, congrats. I hope you sell thousands of them. It really is a nice way to keep the darn door from hitting your behind. Thanks for the pics.