Lift Gate or door?

[NH Moto Expo]

Hello,
I recently bought a 2000 Jeep XJ and was thinking of building it into an expo rig. One thing I've noticed is that I don't really like driving this thing long distances, so it got me thinking that while the XJ is a very capable off road vehicle, I'm not sure it's the best at getting to the trails. This got me looking at some other vehicles. One thing I don't like about the Cherokee is the Lift Gate. It makes it hard to get anything off the roof and at 6' 1" I hit my head often or I duck. The only advantage I see is that it keeps you dry in the rain and you never need to walk around the door to get to something.

So for those of you who have had both...what do you prefer for an expo rig?

A lift Gate?
Doors?
Split gate? like Land Cruiser?

Or am I over thinking this and its not really something to worry about?

 

[roving]

split, Range Rover

 

[mtnbike28]

Split because the tailgate is SO USEFUL.

 

[NH Moto Expo]

So that's two for the split gate. I wonder if this would be better as a Poll?

 

[zoomad75]

I'm torn. My K5's gate is useful when camping as many things. Food prep, dining table, bench seating and the like. However it makes loading and unloading a chore trying to get gear all the way forward to the back seat. It's times like that I'd wish that my K5 had a liftgate like a Ramcharger. Easy reach in and it's a good instant shelter to cook under if the weather gets crappy.

As far as roof access goes, having a tailgate makes it easy to stand on and reach to the roof. You can't do that with a liftgate but with the right design rear bumper one could use it as a platform to reach up to the roof with the liftgate shut.

If I had the fab skills I'd go with a compromise to make my K5 tailgate work like one from a GM wagon from the 60's and 70's. Those wagon gates swung down or to the side depending on which handle you pulled. At least that way I could swing it to the side to load/unload and down to aid in camp cooking or sitting on.

 

[jarmentrout]

For me the lift gate has other advantages. I can open it fully without having a door like an FJ cruiser hitting the bow support when towing my boat, or the hitting the front of the snowmobile trailer. It affords some shelter, and with a nice bumper like shrockworks makes there's plenty of space to stand on to access the roof.

Its also an easy mod to add pin hinges to one end of the bumper to attach a table that comes off the bumper at 90 degrees, in order to cook etc all under the shelter and lights of the lift gate.

Also, I spent many years with a 97 Cherokee and I'm 6'. It could be that the lift struts are weak, but if you are still hitting your head, then a 1.5 inch lift might be worth looking into.

While the Cherokee was a great vehicle, I ultimately sold it and replace it with an 06 Nissan xterra off road. After 70k miles, just sold that one for another, a 12 xterra pro4x. Great vehicles.


Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

[iMTB]

I have a swing gate. I think 1.) split 2.) swing 3.) lift

 

[4x4junkie]

I got no real complaints about my BII's liftgate other than the pneumatic struts don't hold it up well in freezing weather. Like others said, it provides a bit of shelter (not just from rain, but to some extent, sun too with it's tinted window). For roof access, I just stand up on top of one of the rear tires. A tailgate probably would've negated my having to design my sleeping platform the way I did, however that's no longer a concern now.

 

[78Bronco]

Expedition gate allows you a full lift gate but also just pop up the glass. This affords the advantage of very easy access to the cargo area. It is an absolute dream on the highway in all weather conditions.

 

[Martinjmpr]

Expedition gate allows you a full lift gate but also just pop up the glass. This affords the advantage of very easy access to the cargo area. It is an absolute dream on the highway in all weather conditions.

The 4runner's liftgate has a roll down window which offers the same easy access without opening the liftgate, with the addition of being able to open the window while driving.

Having said that, my first choice would be a split gate. Tailgates are awesome, so much so, in fact, that I've been racking my brain for years trying to figure out how to put an internal "tailgate mod" onto my 4runner. My first attempt (used in my Death Valley trip in 2011) worked OK as a shelf/cooking platform, but was not strong enough to support any real weight (like being able to stand on it or climb into the vehicle over it.)

The side-opening door is my least favorite. The only advantage I can see to a side opening door is it allows for an easy mount of the spare tire on the back. Other than that, it's pretty much all negative.

I call the lift gate the "soccer mom gate" because IIRC one-piece liftgates first appeared on mini vans and station wagons, primarily because women (who tend to be shorter on average than men) complained about having to lean over the drop gate to put items in the back of the vehicle. And IMO the reason the lift-gate is so prevalent is because it is cheaper to make than a split gate (fewer pieces to make and less fitting.)

If I had the fab skills I'd go with a compromise to make my K5 tailgate work like one from a GM wagon from the 60's and 70's. Those wagon gates swung down or to the side depending on which handle you pulled. At least that way I could swing it to the side to load/unload and down to aid in camp cooking or sitting on.

I remember those! We had a late 60's Chevy Nomad Wagon that was like that. The back window rolled down with a manual crank (it was a frameless design so no framing around the rear window) and if you grabbed the handle on the inside center, it worked as a drop gate, while if you grabbed the handle on the outside passenger side, it swung open like a door (and this could be done with the back window up.)

I always thought that was a cool design but I imagine it was probably mechanically complex and I'll bet if you put it on a vehicle that traveled a lot on bouncy roads, you would have problems with the mechanism getting damaged and leaving you with a tailgate that wouldn't open at all.

EDITED TO ADD: The biggest problem with side-opening rear doors is that with two exceptions - the FJ Cruiser and the Hummer, the doors always open the wrong way (that is, they're hinged on the passenger side which means that when you are loading from the curb side, you have to walk around the door.) Now, given that most vehicles with side-opening gates come from countries where the right side is the driver's side (England and Japan) that makes sense, but in the case of the Wrangler, it's sort of bizarre.

 

[78Bronco]

The 4runner's liftgate has a roll down window which offers the same easy access without opening the liftgate, with the addition of being able to open the window while driving.

Having said that, my first choice would be a split gate. Tailgates are awesome, so much so, in fact, that I've been racking my brain for years trying to figure out how to put an internal "tailgate mod" onto my 4runner. My first attempt (used in my Death Valley trip in 2011) worked OK as a shelf/cooking platform, but was not strong enough to support any real weight (like being able to stand on it or climb into the vehicle over it.)

While you are waiting for your slow Toyota window to roll down I have already been in and out of the back of my truck thru my lift glass and driving away. Now you have to roll your window back up. ***edit*** I was thinking of the older 4runner.