2 Door Slideout Tailgate

[Preheateddinner]

The 4 door slideout tailgate on Ford Accessories definitely fits the 2 Door with just a little bit of work to get the rear bolted in.

Stating the obvious, but you have to remove your rear seats for this to fit in a 2 door. The install was the same as 4 door except there aren't any rear bolt holes for the assembly to attach to the floor.

I used a 1/8" thick steel tie plate to secure the rear of the unit by connecting it to the existing seat-back bolt with threaded hole through the body and to the rear bolt hole of the unit using one of the kit-provided screws flipped upside down and a big washer & nut. I also used two big washers under the seat-back bolt to level the tie plate to the height of the upside down screw's head. Hopefully, my photos do a better job of describing this.

I did it this way because I didn't want to deal with drilling a new hole through the body and trying to get a fastener underneath. The tie plate is super sturdy- my partner and I jumped on the extended tailgate together and there was no movement or looseness in the rear of the assembly or tie plates.

I still need to level out the front of the cargo area to match the slide out height and plan to reuse that section of my DIY rear seat delete platform. I'll update with some more photos when I'm done with that part.

Start with removing my rear seat delete platform.

Original floor, tie downs, and rear trim strip removed- new trim strip and the left and right tailgate brackets installed.

These are the rear bolt holes that need to be secured.

Looks great with the load floor mat on top.

Figuring out how to secure the rear. Drilled out the steel tie-plates to connect the two points.

Tie plate in place (missing nut on the rearmost screw in this photo)

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[Toccoa]

Nice work.

 

[Arokcrwlr]

Looks great! What did you do with the seat belts?

 

[Preheateddinner]

Looks great! What did you do with the seat belts?

I rolled them up, zip tied them with a cloth around them and tucked them behind the side trim panels. Plenty of room, I just didn’t want them to rattle around. I like to be able to reverse things if I need to, so I didn’t mess with the reel. The seat belt latches are just tucked under the carpet so I don’t have any warning lights on the dash.

 

[Preheateddinner]

Here’s what I made to level out the forward portion of the cargo area with the tailgate slider. It’s secured using the seat bottom screws and I added a little locking door for some storage.
Please don’t judge me too harshly, I’m not a woodworker, but I did my best using the OSB from my previous rear seat delete platform and some scraps I had in the garage.

Ah yes, the random, spare cabinet knob that got the black spray paint treatment. So lovely.

thankfully this will be the only time anyone other than me sees the underside.

Super professional mounting bracket for stability and a little security for the storage area.

little storage door

view from the tailgate

Lastly, these are the footwell bridges I made that are just thin wooden boards with a fabric cover and nylon straps that run underneath them and buckle around the headrests and tie down points for support. These take up almost no room at all and they go underneath my foam mattress for camping. Note the passenger side has almost 3 more inches than the driver’s side when the seats are pushed all the way forward.

 

[Beach_Bum]

Nice work. If you have some extra carpet leftover, I would recommend covering the interior of the storage box to provide sound dampening from items that are stored in there and rattling around.

What is the total interior length with the seats moved forward? Is it enough to accommodate the Deep Sleep mattress?

With the retrofit of the tailgate, have you noticed any rattling in day to day driving?

 

[Preheateddinner]

Nice work. If you have some extra carpet leftover, I would recommend covering the interior of the storage box to provide sound dampening from items that are stored in there and rattling around.

What is the total interior length with the seats moved forward? Is it enough to accommodate the Deep Sleep mattress?

With the retrofit of the tailgate, have you noticed any rattling in day to day driving?

That’s a great suggestion- I’ll line the box the next time I have it out. I’m currently only envisioning putting things in there when I don’t want to take them with me when the roof panels are off, but I’m sure it will accumulate some permanent items over the years.

The sliding tailgate is totally silent.

The passenger side measures 66 inches with the front seat all the way forward. The drivers side is a few inches less.
I’m not sure about the deep sleep mattress, but I know they make a 2 door version. I bought some 3” foam mats from Home Depot and cut them to fit the bronco exactly. The exact length will depend a little bit on how high you are above the floor as the front seat backs angle forward and give you a little more room if you’re higher up. You could add another inch or two if you’re willing to have a slight incline to your head. If I’m by myself I sleep diagonally for extra room.

 

[emulous74]

Thank you so much, I ordered one when I read your post and just got notification that it was shipped. Any chance you have measurements of the front portion your recreated to be level with the slide-out?

 

[TheShark]

Man that looks great. How clever.

 

[Preheateddinner]

Thank you so much, I ordered one when I read your post and just got notification that it was shipped. Any chance you have measurements of the front portion your recreated to be level with the slide-out?

I originally had to temple it with cardboard and the sides are also tapered downwards, so it was just a lot of trial and error, but I’ll take a tape measure to it on my lunch break for you tomorrow.

@emulous74 - Sorry, my drawing skills are about on par with my woodworking skills, so I tried to mark up one of the photos. Also, these measurements are WITH the carpet. The curved portion on top also needed to be cut at an inward angle (when looking down) for a snug fit, or you could just cut the width a bit shorter.

 

[emulous74]

Thanks to you I got it installed on mine today:

I ended up using rubber bushings to make the existing bolt somewhat level with the attachment bolt.

One thing I found strange, is the rear (closet to the rear door) mounting points (holes) on the slide-out weren't threaded and weren't large enough for the provided M8 bolt to go through and there is no way to hold a nut underneath, so I ended up threaded the holes.

If I can find a woodworker willing to do it, I think I'm going to reinforce the base and run thick plywood in place of the mat that came with it, this way I can mount a fridge slide to it and then mount some molle panels to it to go up the side walls of the trunk area.

 

[Preheateddinner]

Thanks to you I got it installed on mine today:

I ended up using rubber bushings to make the existing bolt somewhat level with the attachment bolt.

One thing I found strange, is the rear (closet to the rear door) mounting points (holes) on the slide-out weren't threaded and weren't large enough for the provided M8 bolt to go through and there is no way to hold a nut underneath, so I ended up threaded the holes.

If I can find a woodworker willing to do it, I think I'm going to reinforce the base and run thick plywood in place of the mat that came with it, this way I can mount a fridge slide to it and then mount some molle panels to it to go up the side walls of the trunk area.

Awesome! My front bolts had to be threaded also, but I figured it must be correct since they didn’t include any nuts. Show us the plywood top when you get it!

 

[ManuelNY]

Awesome work you guys. I was thinking of this to support a sleeping arrangement for two people. I had in mind using Pelican style storage boxes that would carry supplies, etc. to support the weight of the people sleeping and allowing them to step off the bed thru the back, the whole thing being covered by a rear tail gate tent. The Pelican boxes would be stacked inside the trunk while travelling and they would be the height required to support the tailgate extension. I think this will make the ideal overlanding set up...

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