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I have now seen photos of the locations of the two red reflectors that go on the tailgate. I am puzzled though because the two that are mounted on the tailgate had the bolt holes mounted horizontally, vs those on the bed which are vertical. Was this universally practiced through all years of manufacture, or was it an early feature. I want to make sure I mount the reflectors correctly. Thanks.

Thats the way my 53 CDN is layed out.

My '54 American model also has the tailgate reflectors mounted horizontally. From casual eye-balling, it would seem that mounting them vertically might result in the recessed areas interfering with the mounting bolts/nuts.

Garbee has a good shot...

Great pic! Now, you can see what I mean about the possible interference with the bolts/nuts. If mounted vertically, the curve of the recessed portion might keep you from getting a wrench on them on the inside. Not a problem when mounted horizontally.

BTW, Cabell...where is the truck parked? It sure doesn't look like your driveway as I remember it!

Mounted the reflectors last night, using a similar picture I found on this site, and from a picture I found in the famous Dave Ahl M37 book that I have. I mounted mine almost exactly as in the above photo. After I mounted them I was concerned that I mounted them too far down on the raised portion of the tailgate but judging from this photo, I seem to have mine in the exact position they should be.

Lifer;

BTw, I laid mine vertically just to see if they could be mounted that way and I could have done so without trouble. Maybe that being that my tailgate is a repro and not exactly the same as an original allows this to happen. I did notice my gate's raised areas are not as well punched out as would be an original.

Thanks for all the help guys.

Well now I can order my reflector set too. And from that great picture I can better mount my license plate too. I hope to have a truck that looks that nice some day...[/i]

Peter;

I don't know how he has his plate mounted, but a real easy spot to mount it is by using the two tail light mounting bolts. I fabbed up a simple mount based on advice from others who mounted theirs to that spot and it turned out great. Very easy to do and best of all no drilling required.