Tuffy Products’ new Swing Gate serves as a minimum necessary quality-of-life improvement for the newest Broncos on the market

If you have been lucky enough to take delivery of a 6th gen Ford Bronco, then you already know that straight from the factory, it comes equipped with most everything you really need to get out and explore with comfort and capability exceeding most other vehicles in its class. Ford engineers really considered their primary demographic in their designs, and because of that, there’s only a few low-cost mods that I would say are really “must-haves” in their accessory catalog.

But whether you plan to tote bikes to a trail or just brew up some coffee on an overnight camping trip, one thing that you’ll likely find lacking is a flat working surface for basic tinkering. And given the swing gate’s 120-degree opening angle, there’s no better place to hide away a table surface than right on the swing gate itself.

Enter Tuffy’s Folding Swing Gate Table, available now in the Ford Accessories catalog.

And while it is not as feature laden as American Adventure Lab’s Jeep VersaTable (coming soon for Broncos) or Goose Gear’s similar tailgate table (available now, but nearly double the price), does a folding table really need to be? Tuffy has produced a no-frills solution to seize a tailgate space opportunity, and in my view, serves as a minimum necessary quality-of-life improvement for the newest Broncos on the market.

Build Quality 🔴🔴🔴🔴⭕

Overall, the materials of the table itself are rigid and feel sturdy, but it should be noted at the onset that the weight capacity of this table is only 25 lbs., so you won’t be throwing a heavy toolbox atop or pushing your AeroPress coffee on it. When closed, it has a slim profile, and most importantly, secures tightly with two latches to ensure no rattling will occur – even on bumpy and washboard terrains that the bronco was made for. There’s just a couple of flaws in design that I noticed, in that a pair of screws that hold the frame together at the top actually make contact with the finish of the edge of the table when folded up (see photos just above the latches). The finish scraped off the very first few times I folded the table in, but this is just cosmetic and doesn’t persuade me in any way to not to recommend the product. The seemingly cheap hardware provided for the install, however, is a different story – which leads me to the next part of this review…

Installation 🔴🔴⭕⭕⭕

Most of my criticism of this tailgate table solution comes from my experience with the installation. First, it requires drilling into your brand-new vehicle. This is easily overlooked for accessories that will likely stay there for the lifetime of the vehicle and especially so when stability and ruggedness is of paramount importance, but we already know the latter is not the case. Even more so, it’s particularly disappointing to see hardware included in a drill-required solution that can’t live up to the “Tuffy” moniker. *

After overcoming the mental hurdle of putting holes in my beautiful Cactus Grey sheet metal and inserting the (very strippable) press-in screw nuts into said holes, I was surprised to find the tool provided for tightening them to the tailgate was providing very little tension to ensure a snug fit. (Note: I was told by a representative from Tuffy that this is by design to prevent over-torquing the bolts and having them strip or become loose, but in my experience the right balance just wasn’t correctly struck.) This became painfully apparent when I reached the fourth, and arguably most important anchor point in the bottom right corner, which relies upon a tight connection to hold the hinge of the table in place and prevent the vibrations of the trail from knocking the hinge out of socket. If you haven’t already guessed by now, the hinge did come apart on me after one 10-minute trail ride, leaving my table dangling by its wire suspension cables the next time I tried to unfold it.

Installation ease is not something I typically use as a make-or-break factor in a purchase decision, but if you don’t consider yourself particularly handy or trust yourself to handle a drill, consider getting a dealer to install this for you. If you’re more of the DIY type, then exercise extra caution to ensure your rivets are secured by the provided tool and start with the bottom right bolt when you do so. Otherwise, you’re going to end up with a rattling – or worse, self-destructing – table strapped to your swing gate.

Features 🔴🔴🔴⭕⭕

As mentioned before, the table really isn’t incredibly complex with what it offers, but the basic features it does have go a long way. It’s got a pretty scratch resistant coating (aside from the scuffing caused by its own mounting hardware), and it folds up to be nice and compact. It also has “BRONCO” branding on its faceplate that can be seen when the table is down. One of the features I enjoy most is also a double-edged sword: the molle panel of the table itself. When the table is folded up, it’s incredibly useful to mount molle pouches and tools to the underside and creates easy access to some of your gear that you don’t want tucked away behind your other cargo. But on the (literal) other side, you now have a table with many holes in it, which can be annoying for placing small objects (e.g., screws, nuts, valve stem caps), or for creating a stable surface for things designed with tripod legs (e.g., a Jetboil burner). Even so, a table surface for the tailgate area is better than no table surface in the tailgate area, and for that, this Tuffy table does what it sets out to do.

Final Verdict

I received my Tuffy tailgate table in exchange for an honest review, and overall, I’m happy I have it. It’s an economical option for enhancing the utility of the tailgate cargo area, and certainly beats the alternative of not having any table surface when working in or around your truck’s tail end. Even better, acquiring one of these using straight from Ford’s accessory catalog is a fantastic use of any FordPass rewards points you may have sitting around. There may be some higher quality or more full-featured alternatives currently on the market (with more coming soon), but for many, a basic, rattle-free, low profile, folding tailgate table at a reasonable price is going to be a good fit.

* I’m including a footnote because I feel it should be mentioned that the folks at Tuffy were extremely responsive to me when I reported trouble with the installation tool. After hearing my description of what went wrong with the hardware kit, Tuffy was very quick to send me out replacement hardware to ensure the installation got done correctly. While it shouldn’t have needed this extra touch to get the product rigged up, it’s an appreciated gesture, and says a lot about the company’s intent to put the customer first.

• • Follow Frank and his various Bronco content on Instagram at @FroncoBronco

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