Rusty Tailgate rehab

I've got a pretty straight tailgate but the bottom is rough & rusty. I'm thinking about slicing it down the middle lengthwise and inserting a pipe inside. I will then hammer/straighten/patch and weld it back together. I "think" I can make it look reasonable when I'm done.

Thoughts?

Here's pictures of it now.

The tailgate is generally in okay condition, except for the bottom. Certainly a bit rusty but fixable. That's the pipe I plan to use.It's a good fit over the hinge posts.



The ends are blown out and the tailgate is pretty much not useable right now.

I will keep you posted on how things turn out.....

May as well give it a try, Yours is in the shape most of them are in. If youve got the time and a welder and the skills Im sure you can fashion it to look pretty good. Mine on my truck had been rebuilt and it looks pretty good

As hard as they are to find trying to save yours is the way to go

We cut the bottom round piece out on our's and welded in a piece of box section steel in across the bottom. We then moved the tailgate hinges up on the body of the truck otherwise the tailgate would not open.

It works fine now but the tailgate supports dont work so it opens all the way down and is not quite level with the bed of the truck when open. There is also a slight gap between the tailgate and the bed of the truck when its closed. It was either this or weld the tailgate completely closed it worked out pretty good in the end.

I spent some time today trying to rebuild the tailgate on my 65 pickup. As mentioned earlier (last year!) the bottom of the tailgate was rusted out. I cut off the rot and welded on some new material to the bottom four inches or so. Looks rough right now, but I think it will turn out okay!

Cutting, grinding and welding -- and I still got all my fingers!  

That's looking good Jd. I think that's going to clean up nice. And I'm glad you can still count to 10...lol. That's always a concern when I fire up the big grinder as well.

Seems like I always have to give a little blood to the car gods. In this case, no blood. But that hot piece of metal melting thru the top of my tennis shoe sure got my attention!

my tailgate was good except for the bottom, so I cut it off and fixed it this way.

OldBird wrote:my tailgate was good except for the bottom, so I cut it off and fixed it this way.

Nice job! I like how it cleans up the area over the license surround. I'm trying to stay close to original, although anyone who has seen an original will know mine isn't....

there was 1 other member about ?? 2 years back that redid the whole tailgate with a later ford truck gate-id guess -in the archives here too? turned out excellent too = i believe he cut the new gate down in both directions too -some work yet was a great job!! There are - new hinges being made also.

Twinpilot001 wrote:there   was 1 other member about ?? 2 years back that redid the whole tailgate with a later ford truck gate-id guess -in the archives here too? turned out excellent too = i believe he cut the new gate down   in both directions too -some work yet was a great job!! There are - new  hinges being made also.

Maybe? Your thinking of the circa 2006 era RAM tailgates. Not my idea (another member on here did a bang up job) but I'm doing it on mine. I'll try to do separate write up someday when its done (see along time). Anyway, the profile is a good start in my opinion.

Racer--I'm interested in the Dodge tailgate solution. Keep us in the loop. I too am stuck trying to repair my tailgate on my restoration. That rebuild on the HAMB a while back looked interesting as does the Dodge solution.
THX Mike C

I've been having more fun with my tailgate repair. I had several dents on the inside up near the top, plus a significant area of rust that had to be cut out and replaced.

To pull the dents, I tack welded small bolts to the low spots and then used a crow bar to lever out the dents. I cut off the bolts and reused them for several different spots, then ground down all the welds.



To replace the rusted-out section of the tailgate, I knew butt-welding the thin sheet would be challenging, so I tack welded in backer strips to make things easier. I got everything as straight as I could then tack welded the repair in place. While I had the hole open, I sprayed the inside of the tailgate box with Rust Reformer. It was pretty darn rusty inside!





I will finish it off tomorrow. The repair may not be invisible, but I think it will turn out okay for a 60 year old truck!

James

sure looks like a =NEW ??? Ground clamp maybe =even welder --- to me!!!! Nice job!

That's coming along nicely. Keep up the great work.

Re: Rusty Tailgate rehab
Post by jdlaugh on Sun Dec 14, 2014 4:40 pm
Seems like I always have to give a little blood to the car gods. In this case, no blood. But that hot piece of metal melting thru the top of my tennis shoe sure got my attention! Shocked



All u need do is - to notice that hot metal on ur shoes=Quicker!!- is === Just go barefooted!!

I had been considering cutting the back off of mine to be able to use a hammer and dolly and welding it back on. Has anyone here done this?

here is my tailgate latch,,, ( seatbelt latch ) 24][/url]