I bought an 82 Bronco originally as a parts vehicle. I'm pulling the running gear out of it and swapping it into my 89.
The 82 need a new tailgate tho' (decided to keep it and get it running). I've got a line on another 89 complete tailgate.
Before I buy it, what's the opinion on beiang able to use it on the 82?

Thanks

msautry

 

I believe that it will work fine check it out if you have the 89 near by. It appears to be the same shape and thats pretty much all that matters, ford broncos didn't really change all that much from that new body style basically it was the fronts that changed so check it out, see where all the components are eg, the locking bolt. Should be fine.

 

It won't fit. '82 is the last year for the old-style t/g catches, so you need a '78-82 t/g skin for that truck. That's the only thing that changed that year. After that, t/gs are interchangeable from '83-96, except for the trim panel. But the '78-79 glass is different from '80-96, so there's an overlap.

You can use the newer t/g if you change the strikes on the body to the new style, which isn't too hard to do. I'm using an '82 body right now, until recently with my original '83 t/g, but now I'm using a '96 t/g. I made a nut plat from some 1/16" x 1" angle iron about 2" long on each side and tightened them with the strike bolts in the middle of the holes left when I removed the '82 strikes. I need to cut a little metal & move them slightly forward, but it's worked OK for 4 years.