Hello,
I am new to the forum. I have a 56 Big Window and have recently installed stainless steel tailgate latches. I bought them at marinedepot.com Hold Down Clamp 90 Degree Mounting for under $27 each. I have seen these for a lot more money elsewhere. Also, most people install the flip latch piece on the tailgate and the small 90 degree catch on the side of the bed...that seemed silly to me, so I installed them the other way around. Also, I build a nice stainless steel 1/4" spacer plate to go behind it...had that polished as well.



Now I need to address the support issue. I have seen most of the options at the online stores. I don't like the chains dangling on the outside. I think the large stainless or chrome folding bracket looks messy inside the bed. Any thoughts? I'd really like to either:
1) drill a hole in the stake bed post and put a stainless "grommet" and have a stainless steel chain with a weight on the end come out of that hole with a catch at the end when the tailgate is fully opened..so like an anchor on a boat and the weight sucks the chain in when closing the tailgate...or
2) put a stainless steel spring winding mechanism under the bed with stainless cable supports.
Any thoughts are appreciated.
thanks,
Marc

 

http://i813.photobucket.com/albums/z...8/IMAG0304.jpg

 

I have a stainless cable that goes back into the stake pocket that I bought from HotRodsClassicTruckParts in New Carlisle, Ohio, check them out. A mom and pop truck parts vendor, Rod and Denise are great people to deal with.

 

Gary,
I checked out the hidden cable set up. I have not previously found a setup that I liked. I do like the looks of your setup. I have a 49 with the stock original bed so the stake pockets differ somewhat from the later beds. It seems like the cable would be a little bit longer than the stake pocket. Does it double back on itself inside the pocket when the tailgate is closed? Is there a weight or something that prevents the cable from sometimes kinking outside the stake pocket (not smoothly going into the hole) when you go to close the tailgate? Would you go the same route again?
Thanks for the post.

 

Everything seems to work fairly well, some help for the last couple inches, no weight to pull the cable in the stake pocket and no it don't kink and is not too long for the stake pocket, Garry

 

Garry,
I am working on my tailgate/bed latch and support. I have ordered the latches from Rod and Denise but will not get them until next week-not only are they nice folks but they have been there and done it! I am using a later model F150 cable setup and trying to finalize positioning for the cable arrangement but need to figure in positioning of the latches. Is it possible that you could measure the height of the latches as installed on your truck, i.e. the vertical dimension as mounted on the bed. From your picture, it looks like about 1 1/2" high. Is the truck readily available?
I am racing to beat the snow taking my bed to a friends paint booth this afternoon and would like to final drill for the cable brackets first.

 

Bill, I'm sorry but I didn't see your request for measurements until this morning. Sorry again because Homeade is put up for the winter and hard to get to it to uncover until I move lots of stuff, Garry

 

Garry, Thanks for responding. On an off chance that Rod would answer his business phone, I called him. He did answer this morning and got me the measurement that I needed, so all is well! We are about to get the snow that you just received but a bit more. Forecast is for 10-15" starting tonight.
I have the new tailgate cables all fit up based on knowing the room that I needed for the latch. Time to load the bed up in the trailer to move it before the storm.

 

Nice find on the latches. Do you have any pics of how the bolts look on the outside of the bed?

 

By the time that I read your post, I took it back apart, loaded the bed in my trailer and took it to my friend with the paint booth.

 

Mark, your set up looks clean, plus it appears that it will hold your tail gate nice and snug. I hope you post your cable set up as you do it, cuz seems like a winner too. I haven't given a lot of thought about my latches, but seems like something for my future project list.