LOL...yea, I used parts of a toilet seat hinge to hold the tailgate straps...I had forgot about those...LOL

Fordman75, have you looked at modifying a later model tailgate? I had thought about using the center section from a mid 80's stepside for awhile but then I decided I wanted to keep the Ford script center piece in mine.

Bobby

 

Just want to say thanks for your kind words and comments...keep them coming!

Welding.......

A large flat panel like this is kinda tricky to weld....get it too hot and it will warp like a pretzel. Small welds, and move around alot. I even cool my welds with compressed air....well I did all that and it still warped a little.... I ended up welding the ends solid, I wanted a finished edge there. The top and bottom I stitch welded about every 2". Those seams will get seam sealer, plus the inside will get the matching bedliner. On to pics....

I still needed some way to attach the support straps, so I made some from angle...and tacked them in place

weld, weld, weld...I got a slight "oilcan" in the center....

grind, grind...take some time on this, it saves time later

here it is mounted with the cables installed....these cables are from an S-10... I like them because they have compact ends and are rubber covered. Maybe they won't chew up the paint.

another shot of the cables.....the bolts are temporary

 

I tend to destroy my tailgates So I don't think any of the stock tailgates would hold up to my abuse.

I'm building the rest of my truck like a tank ( 10 gauge steel firewall, 14 gauge steel diamond plate floors, 16 gauge transmission tunnel, 10 gauge running boards, etc. ) So the box and tailgate are going to be similarly over built. But I really like the looks of the stock 56 F250 tailgate.

I'm still thinking on the Ford block lettering and the two raised ribs. I was thinking of a hammer form or something but it may be a little difficult to do in the heavier metal. Or I might just do some cut outs of the ribs and letting and just try to weld them onto a flat panel. But the hard part will be to get them clean looking with a nice blend.

 

Toilet seat parts? Sounds kinda THRONE together!!!!

Sorry, I couldn't resist.......

 

OK, now I need some input from you guys....

I cut the Ford script out of my old tailgate, and I want to mount it in the center of the new one. However, I am NOT going to cut a hole and attempt to weld it in. That would warp horribly and destroy my new gate. The script piece is kinda bent up, I've been beating on it and hope to flatten it out again.
So I'm thinking maybe I could use some panel adhesive? Any body have experience with this stuff? Or other ideas?

here is the script.....


cleaned up and sorta centered on the tail gate.


If this doesn't work, I may just have the script painted on.....
Let me know what you think!

 

3M makes a panel bonding adhesive that is used to glue "weld" some body panels on newer vehicles. You can use that.

If it were me, I'd try to cut the letters out with a plasma cutter and glue them on individually.

Nice work!

 

I dig the oval. Know anyone with a bead roller? Roll a bead around the edge & stick it on with panel adhesive. That'd look slick!

 

fordman75, for the lettering, you could use two panels, have the letters cut out of one panel and overlay it on the other panel. The letters would be a recess. I think CharlieLED did something similar on a customers truck;
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...lgate-art.html


tinman52, I know that the panel bonding adhesive is good stuff. My buddy, a bodyman was palyign with it years ago when it first started getting popular. He bonded a couple of pieces of sheet metal together, let it cure andthen tried to pull it apart. The metal gave and tore before the seam failed.

If you can get that piece with the script nice and flat and in a symetrical shape then I think bonding it with adhesive would work, either that or have someone paint it on

Nice work
Bobby

 

I should have mentioned that last pic of the script is not the final shape....
I was thinking an oval would look good, but now I'm thinking about cutting the letters out, as noted above.
You guys have some great ideas, keep them coming!

 

AHHH!!!, looks awesome guys !!!got my DARKSIDE fix for the day!!

 

That's cool, but I really want them raised like the stock gate. I will probably just cut out the letters and weld them on.




If you decide to cut out the letters be careful depending on what you use to cut them out it can be really easy to mess up the letters.

 

Well, this tailgate project turned out to be more work than I had planned, which is typical. It would have been done by now, except.....

The script....had to think about this one for a while, but thanks to your input it worked out good. I will let the pics explain....

This is the shape I ended up with....it took lots of file work

I used a panel adhesive from Evercoat called MAXIM....it came highly recommended...but spendy. I clamped it up an let it set over night.

I pulled the clamps next day.....hey that looks pretty good! Just needs a little filler to blend the edges.

And finally with some epoxy primer on it.

Still needs some filler primer and seam sealer, but hopefully will get paint in the next couple of weeks. Thanks for following along....Scott

 

That looks really good. I love the script that was a great finish!

 

that loos so sick...glad you didnt paint them...after you paint it maybe outline them or do some shadow effect with paint to make em stick a lil more?

 

That turned out sweet!! Great work!