Thread: Major modification to back door

Originally Posted by Plutei

Fantastic mod! What were your reasons for going with a top hinged tailgate over side hinge?

A side hinge puts a lot of load on one side. I suspect the hinges would need to be somewhat more substantial than the top hinges (I like the fact that they are LR parts).

Fantastic work! I've thought about this kind of thing many times - I imagine most 110 owners have. I've only seen something similar once before:

18apr-1a.jpg 18apr-2a.jpg 18apr-4a.jpg

If someone could perform this kind of mod to my old bus I would be sorely tempted; there are so many things that are just too big for the rear door.

Originally Posted by rijidij

I have a regular customer locally who has a Mulgo pop top on his Defender.
We might be doing this conversion to that vehicle. If we do, it will give me a better idea of whether it’s something I can offer commercially.
The problem for me is, I’m a one man operation, and I’m flat out keeping up with the manufacture of the products I already make, so I will see how it goes.

Time to hire a top fabricator, so you can focus on sales?
BTW my older son is at a similar decision point with his marketing business, so I do understand it's a big step.
Only you can make that decision.

Shut up and take my money!

It would never have occurred to me that the rear door provided any rigidity to the body! This is why the door cannot be full width without major structural modifications to the body.

What were the main challenges you faced with getting this to work?

Awesome mod, nicely executed. I love that you can use it like a rear awning.
All you need now is one of those “swipe your foot under the back of the car” sensors and the tailgate can swing up automatically…… or would that be OTT?

Originally Posted by Plutei

What were the main challenges you faced with getting this to work?

Mainly all the pre measuring, and thinking about all the details to be confident it would all work ‘before’ cutting the body.
Once I actually started the physical work, it all went pretty smoothly, but only because I did so much preparation.

I also spent a lot of time on the computer, drawing any components I could get laser cut, and some 3D drawings to double check I had all the angles right etc etc.

Cheers