I recently hauled some river rock and gravel with my truck and the most annoying thing happened. After I have emptied the rock out for the last time, I went to raise the tailgate and all I could hear was "Clank Clank Clank". The tailgate was full of rocks.

There are two, maybe three little slots in the bottom of the tailgate and ALOT of rocks had gotten into those holes. I had to take the tail gate off and then unscrew the plate that protects the tailgate handle assembly and shake the rocks out. BTW, that tailgate is NOT light. You wouldnt believe how much that lift assist helps.

Anyways, if you gonna haul gravel, either take the tailgate off or cover those holes with duct tape..... Take it from me, it was a pain in the rear to get those rocks out.

 

Try this next time: Line the bed with a large piece of heavy duty plastic sheeting, leave plenty of plastic hang over the fenders,tailgate and front of the bed. Then shovel in your gravel, sand, ect. and when you're finished fold the plastic over the the load and put a cinder block or some thing heavy to keep the plastic from flapping in the wind. Then unload your gravel and when you're almost done, just slide out the plastic with whatever gravel is left in there. This way there isn't even a need for sweeping the bed, it even protects the bed if you don't have a bedliner. Hope that helps.

 

 

Thanks for the tip.....

 

I made this mistake just last week also. I just filled my tailgate with the water hose and most of the crushed granite that I was hauling came out, the rest will have to stay there.....What a pain though.