Fabricated Tailgate

[NAM VET]

and I am proud myself when I put a 90 degree bend in a small piece of aluminum with my vice and my hammer.....

Hal, aka NAM VET

[John Mc]

That's some great work!

I can see why you do not want to produce them for sale, however. A lot of time and effort went in to that.

[Mdevill]

Thanks for the comments. It was lots of work including outsourced labor someone would have to factor into the build.

Next up were the upper corner bracket pieces that the chain loops through. I don't know what you'd call them but I bought a 3/16" thick flat bar drop, if I recall correctly and fabricated them with a vise, hammer, and other stuff. At the time, I didn't think about snapping pics but I'll include what I could come up with.

First, I took measurements of the width of the part, its alignment with the corresponding part on the truck bedside, and also included some guesses as to the non-critical dimensions. From here, I created a solid model in SolidWorks.

Tailgate Chain Loop.JPG (25.63 KiB) Viewed 1797 times

After a few attempts and test fitting the piece, I got it where I needed it then printed a flat pattern of the model.

Chain loop flat pattern.JPG (23.9 KiB) Viewed 1797 times

If you are not familiar with 3D modeling software, when modeling sheet metal parts, if you unfold the model like the second pic, the software compensates for the added dimensions needed in the bends. That ensures accuracy of the part after bent. In my case, I used the 3D printed flat model to trace the steel blank then used an angle grinder to cut the part out (and didn't snap any pics). The steel blanks looked just like the flat model though. With the blanks done, I milled the slots then scribed the bend lines then clamped the pieces in a vise and beat them into shape with a hammer. Again, no pics. Sorry. At some point in the build, I had them welded to the tailgate.

Right now, this is the best picture that I have. They actually turned out much better than I expected.

Completed tailgate latch.JPG (53.41 KiB) Viewed 1797 times

[Mdevill]

With all of the welding and trimming done, I started the much needed bodywork on the unit. I had it bead blasted then sprayed epoxy primer before using body filler. Once it was ready, I sprayed it and installed it. The filler was necessary for the distortion caused by welding, slight misalignment of the welded pieces, and pits in the metal. I would have much preferred to purchase a new sheet to start with but my friend who agreed to bend the sheet pulled this out of his drop and gave it to me so I went with it.

bodywork.jpg (104.01 KiB) Viewed 1796 times

Now, all that is really left is to install the reflectors and the tarp hooks. I bought both from online vendors and installed the reflectors with nuts and bolts. I wanted to stay as true as possible to the original so I considered rivets for the tarp hooks but came up with a different solution since I could not find rivets with the head diameter close to or equal to the original ones.

Painted tailgate.jpg (87.84 KiB) Viewed 1796 times

I purchased 4 typical 5/16" carriage bolts because the head shape and diameter was similar to the original rivet. I reduced the overall height (?) of the square shoulder to the thickness of the tailgate with a drill and cut-of wheel. Once done, I squared up the 4 mounting holes in the tailgate with a file. Once done, I was able to insert the bolts from the inside of the tailgate with the threads facing outside and the square shoulder flush with the outside of the tailgate. Sorry, no pics but fairly straight forward.

A typical hex nut just wouldn't look factory so I came up with a different option. I bought what I seem to recall 1/2" diameter bolts with partial threads then cut the threaded part off. Using a small cheap lathe I have, I was able to bore then tap the remaining piece of bolt for 5/16 threads. I also reduced the outside diameter of the bolt to make subsequent steps a little easier. Now that the bolt was threaded (more like a nut now than a bolt), I used by battery powered impact to drive them on. This is the only pic I have of that before cutting the rest of the bolt off.

Tarp nuts.jpg (66.46 KiB) Viewed 1796 times

[Mdevill]

The very last step of the fabrication was to clean up the make-shift rivets. I used my angle grinder to cut them to length. The carriage bolt was long enough so that when I cut the nut to length, I also cut the carriage bolt. I used carbide burrs and sanding drums and wheels on the Dremel tool to shape the contraption to look like the peened end of a rivet. No good pics but I have this one I zoomed in on for this post.

finished tarp hook.png (90.49 KiB) Viewed 1796 times

I purchased some chains with hooks but one chain was shorter than the other so I replaced both with chain from McMaster Carr with dimensions similar to the original.

We finally have a tailgate!!

Thank you for reading the post and leaving comments on the results. Purists may find fault but I am very happy with the result and I think I met the original goal I set out to accomplish. I hope this post helps others attempt to fabricate a tailgate and hopefully find ways to make it better and more efficient to build.

Matt

[Cal_Gary]

Hi Matt,
Nobody is going to knock you for your efforts in solving a most-difficult issue-specifically fabricating an NOS-looking tailgate when so many folks have none but desire one. To complain would be similar to Jeep folks arguing about which areas had the Ford script bolts versus not. We don't bad-mouth our members' efforts here-we've always been a tremendously supportive bunch of friends
Well done Sir!
Gary

[greeno]

Sent you a PM. I'd like to run this by our fab shop and designers. Your models would be a great first start.

[06boblee]

Truly amazing work. I beat on my original tailgate for days to try and get it to look good (and semi straight), still looks like it was run over by a tank- new paint does help a lot. Replacement tailgates would be welcomed, VPW sometimes have them-been out of them a while now. Again, that is a great tailgate.

[Mdevill]

Thank you for the comments. I thought that same thing would be the case for me if I were to find a used one I could afford. We wanted a tailgate that matched our restoration and, to beat one into submission would possibly end up consuming as much time as what I have in this one. Plus, I considered it a challenge.

[T. Highway]

Very nice work.

Bert