So my TJ is at #1 Stop Shop in Dover for a paint job. We agreed that both the hood and the tailgate would be removed for painting. The hood came off fine, but the torx bolts on the tailgate hinge just won't budge. One has already stripped the head. I've been given two choices: paint the hinges and tailgate in place or pay extra money for the body shop to deal with the bolts. I don't think this is a routine Deep Creep situation.
Any magical (quick and cheap) solutions for this problem? As long as I don't intend to convert the tailgate to a drop-down style, am I ok to just have it (and hinges) painted in place? 
Tailgate on 98 TJ just ain't coming off
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They all do that. If you drill the heads off you can unscrew the bolts from the tailgate with your fingers. That said the tailgate isn't painted under the hinges from the factory so it probably wouldn't hurt anything to not paint under them now.
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Depends on how anal you actually are. Anything is OK as long as you are OK with it.
There is no wrong in this situation.
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As far as getting the bolts out you already strip one out might as well just drill them and get new bolts.
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As far as getting the bolts out you already strip one out might as well just drill them and get new bolts.
That would be ideal. The issue is money, though. The TJ is in the hands of the body shop, so that would be considered "above and beyond" our original agreement....thus more $$$. If it were sitting in my garage where I could tinker at my leisure, that's probably what I'd do. -
I had to drill the heads out on mine too. My cordless and a sharp bit had no problems taking the heads off the torx bolts. Will they let you into the shop for 5 minutes? Just zip them off and then deal with the studs later. Like Spedly said, you can just turn them out by hand once the tension is off of them.
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if you leave gate on they wont paint the jamb behind tailgate they will tape it then close gate,i would take gate off much nicer job in my opinion?
Wayne -
Probably a little late now that the head is striped, but before I even tried to turn on the bolts i pulled the carpet back to expose the back of the nutcert and baked the hell out of it with a propane torch. Then took a good quality torx bit and hammered it in the head of the bolt and with a breaker bar i slowly turned and they all popped loose.
Andy
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I just had this problem 2 weeks ago. Stripped out the 1st head then ran a razor around the others to break the paint before loosening them. Had to drill out the first one though after I stripped it out and busted the crap outta my knuckles.
Replaced them with stainless hex heads. Think the hardware cost me a total of $9 @ Home Depot.
I had to drill the heads out on mine too. My cordless and a sharp bit had no problems taking the heads off the torx bolts. Will they let you into the shop for 5 minutes? Just zip them off and then deal with the studs later.
x3... cheap 5 minute fix is better than paying the shop labor fee. -
Probably a little late now that the head is striped, but before I even tried to turn on the bolts i pulled the carpet back to expose the back of the nutcert and baked the hell out of it with a propane torch. Then took a good quality torx bit and hammered it in the head of the bolt and with a breaker bar i slowly turned and they all popped loose.Andy
That works on the body side of the hinge, but not the tailgate.
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I would take into consideration what kind of paint job you are getting.
Are they stripping everything else off before painting or just taping it?
If they are just taping it then I wouldn't worry too much about the tailgate being perfect.
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That works on the body side of the hinge, but not the tailgate.
True didnt think of that
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Sounds like a lot of fuss over something nobody would ever notice unless you specifically point it out. Especially when considering they are using tape on other areas of the rig. Lol
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How much are they going to charge to drill the bolts??
It's one thing if they try to remove the bolts then strip them out then drill them.
But if you just tell them to drill them out right off the bat cant take much more than 20-30 minutes. -
How much are they going to charge to drill the bolts??It's one thing if they try to remove the bolts then strip them out then drill them.
But if you just tell them to drill them out right off the bat cant take much more than 20-30 minutes.
They didn't talk numbers with me. Guess I could ask about it and then make a decision based on the response.
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