FAQ Reason for the Hinge Direction (1 Viewer)

[kevinmrowland]

This comes up from time to time, and I usually direct people to some previous thread posts, I'll copy the info here so it will be easier to find.

This is from a post made 1.26.10

I've talked about the hinge direction a few times but info is so scattered that it's tough to find, so no problem.
The short answer is that it works out better that way.

I don't recommend hinging the other direction and I don't think the fabrication is as clean and strong. I can switch it around if you really need, quite a few people have asked about this, but after they have used the lids it doesn't present an issue any more.

And this is from a post made in 09-21-07

I went through both options in the design phase and this is what I found:

When the tail gate folds out it facilitates using the lid as a table/place to put things removed from the box while trying to get the buried things out.
The lid can also be opened fully, regardless of what is in the back of the truck, like drawers, a fridge, other cargo.

For those that have drawers in, outward opening allows the drawers to be partially or fully opened depending on clearance even if the tailgate is open in order to snag something quick from the back of the drawer.

On top of those things and probably most important, is ease of manufacturability. If you look at the box you will notice that the inside corners have more of a curve to them than the outside corners, by putting the hinged edge on the top/outside I can run the hinge close to the end of the plastic rather than have a floating termination that would be somewhat weaker.

Now as you have stated, this format limits opening the tailgate lid while closed. After thinking about that during the design I felt that this was actually a good thing because in all likelihood if the lid was opened when the tailgate was vertical, anything stowed within would most likely come tumbling out.
I could also not think of many situations where you would be inside the truck and still even be able to open the tailgate, most instances there is something in the way of the door swing, like bedding if you are sleeping in there, cargo drawers, boxes or the fridge.

I have also found that one other nice thing about the opening direction is that when laying in bed (on the drawers, which block the tailgate) if I drop the tailgate and reach out, it is very nice to have the lid open away from me in that situation since it is easier to reach.

And as far as limiting access by opening toward the user, without the scale of a user it may look like it would be in the way, but the lid only protrudes into the user space about 7" (there is overlap on the tailgate itself). Minimum comfortable standing work distance will be approximately the length of the users forearm, not many users are likely to have a forearm shorter than the 11" lid so I doubt that it would be found to be in the way during normal use.

Edit:
See Jonharis's photo here for reference, everything in the tailgate is still very easy to reach:

Does any of this answer your question/address your concern? Like most decisions it really is a toss up, but I have tried to think out the problems and present the best solution.

If anyone REALLY wants to I can custom build a "backwards" lid.
When everything is considered the lid just works out best the way it is.

One of my customers who asked about the hinge sent this note after installing his lid:
"btw - after seeing the tailgate - if someone ever asks like i did
about reversing the hinge, don't give the option of flipping it. the
design is great."

That tends to be the typical response, I've never had anybody think
that it should go the other way after actually using the lid.


KR

 

[kevinmrowland]

This has been coming up again recently for some reason so the hinge direction was on my mind the other day when I was getting (read- trying to find) something in my tailgate and I thought to take a picture of one of the primary reasons I like the hinge the way it is:

Whenever I need something out of there, it is almost invariably underneath everything else. In this case I had stored the clamp head for the high lift in there down in one of the lower corners, I then forgot which corner, so I ended up unpacking both of them....

If the lid hinged towards the cargo box it would make a ramp between the two where I would not be able to set anything, the lid wouldn't be flipped out so I wouldn't be able to use it as a table for all the stuff I had to take out of the gate, the only place I would have to set things is on the bed (which I prefer to keep clean) I would have to reach in past the open tailgate and I would have quickly run out of room to set things.

The lids opening towards you does nothing to get in your way.

I realize that on paper it makes more sense to hinge the other direction, and the first lid I made for myself that's just what I did, but as soon as I started using it I ripped it out, cut the hinge off and welded it on the other side, haven't looked back since.


I have built a couple of custom "backwards" lids for people who had some specific things they wanted to address. But please keep in mind that so far I have had ZERO customers want the lid to hinge the other direction after actually using the lids.



KR