I have a 94 bronco that has a badly rusted tailgate. What are most people doing about this common problem with these? I've seen a few sites that sell aftermarket tailgates but I'm worried about the quality. I'm sure they are all made in China.

 

You are correct to be concerned about quality of the aftermarket gates.
I got a great deal on a brand new aftermarket piece that went unused for it's original purchaser. Not sure of the brand.
The first thing I noticed is the weight of it. It was less than half the weight of the original gate.
The other problem is none of the mounting holes for interior brackets, mounts etc were correct. I had to totally reconfigure the inside.

It turned out all right but was much more work than it should have been.

Also, because of the low weight - thinner materials- less robust construction of my aftermarket gate I decided to ditch the exterior body mounted spare tire carrier. The carrier wreaks havoc on the original gate, so I could only imagine how it would tear up this lighter weight version of it.

Because they are getting harder to find every year, I decided to keep a pristine used OEM gate around for any possible future need I might have.

Several vendors sell lower tailgate patch skins to repair a moderate rust through. Use lots of rust preventative preparations to aid in longevity of the repair.

 

 

Nope, unless you are into sheet metal fabrication. They are not even close.