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I am unable to get a flareside tailgate for my 78. No one has one in stock and have been given 13 week wait time. My bed had a home made tailgate that I was planning on scrapping and I filled in the holes used to latch it closed. Looks like I am going to use that tailgate for a while now. I will need to fabricate the part that the factory tailgate latched hook on to on the tailgate to make it work like a factory style tailgate would have closed and latched.
Can anyone provide pictures of these tabs fairly close up? Dimensions would be great also.
This is what was on it when I bought the truck. Had wood in the openings and looked good and made backing up in a lifted truck easier. Just had a crappy system to keep it closed with eyelets and caribiners.
I made mine for a Chevy, sheet of 1/8" steel in a frame of 1.25" rectangle tube on two siodes and 1.25" tube steel top and bottom, put chains and latches inside, then new tail light lenses. After paint I used vynil lettering for a Chevrolet tailgate, used tape, measured out spacing same as an embossed tailgate, looked great. No wrinkles, strong too.
Neat ideas but not what I want to do. I will be getting a factory tailgate at some point in the future. I will be using the standard chains and latches. I just want to make this home made tailgate work in the meantime. Then later on the factory tailgate will just bolt right up without modifications.
I would wait till you get replacement, unless you want to do it all again. I used a 1X12 for a few years and drywall screws for a tailgate till I found a new box. JMO.
For my 81 Flare I did not have a gate when I got the truck and was going to make one from the rear wall of a cab that rolled over.
I was also looking to use the seat belt buckle to latch it in place.
Being that was a lot of work and I really wanted a factory gate I was looking at a Tail Gate Net.
Like this https://www.summitracing.com/parts/c...CABEgLdp_D_BwE
I got lucky and my brother found one in Cali and sent it to me.
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