Geo Tracker Inner Tailgate Door Shelves

When working remotely, in the forest somewhere, using my laptop is awkward. I like to sit on the back of the rig with the rear seats removed and the tailgate door open. Running the lappy on my lap with no place for the mouse is the awkward part. So I decided to add tailgate shelves to the inside of the tailgate door for a makeshift remote work desk. The inner tailgate door shelves will come in even more handy as a cooking stand when overland camping. I set up the Wrangler's tailgate cook station similarly, but don't want to hang the same heavy security cabinet in the Tracker. The two shelf tailgate tray table thingy will be lighter, and strong enough. Scroll down to the end of this post to see it installed.

Not wanting to drill extra holes into the original tailgate door skin, I removed that original interior panel and traced its size and shape and holes placement onto 1/4" luan plywood. I cut the luan, drilled all the holes that I had traced, and wrapped the luan with vinyl upholstery fabric from WallyWorld. Then I poked through the new vinyl covering where I could feel the holes in the luan, and bought interior automotive push rivets to hold the new panel onto tailgate. Looks peachy!

I made this replacement tailgate door skin so that I could install my two-shelf tailgate table, without damaging the original interior panel that I removed for safe keeping. This low mile, barn find, Geo Tracker can still be restored to original at anytime, because I saved the original doorskin.

Steps For Geo Tracker Inner Tailgate Door Shelves

Step 1: Pry original plastic push rivets from the Geo Tracker's original tailgate door skin.

Step 2: Trace the shape of the original tailgate door skin onto a sheet of 1/4" thick luan plywood.

Step 3: Trace the holes of the original tailgate door skin onto that sheet of luan.

Step 4: With the upholstery off, hold up the tailgate table shelf thingy and mark the holes. Two of the original left-side holes were reusable; two new holes were drilled toward the middle of the door.

Step 5: Install rivnuts in the four holes that the shelves will use. When the upholstery is on, I won't be able to get my hand in there to install a nut on the bolts that hold the shelves. Rivnuts are threaded hollow rivets that you can bolt into, eliminating the need for nuts.

Step 6: Bolt the shelves on to ensure proper placement of rivnuts. Remove shelves after testing.

Step 7: Cut the luan into shape and drill the holes where they were marked.

Step 8: Spray upholstery glue onto the luan and the underside of the vinyl upholstery, with the upholstery inside out on a flat surface.

Step 9: Place the glued side of the luan onto the glued side of the upholstery so they stick together.

Step 10: While the glue is still slippery, fold the corners and edges of the upholstery around to adhere to the back of the luan.

Step 11: When dry, attach the new upholstered luan to the tailgate with new automotive upholstery rivets.

Step 12: Bolt the tailgate shelves onto the newly attached, home made door skin.

Step 13: Post photos onto the social media of your choice!