I just picked up a 1969 F100 today from an old farmer down the road... while I was in my shop he used a tractor with a strap to lift the back of the truck and the straps bent the ***** out of the tailgate.... I'm pissed and heartbroken. Is the tailgate fixable? Can it be straightened or should I just suck it up and buy a repop tailgate? Any suggestions on a god repop brand tailgate? Thank you

 

Its hard to tell, the pictures didnt come through. Welcome to the forum. Post some pics up so we can see it. I am no body work guy and I have never seen the quality of the repops.

 

I was trying to upload as you were typing The dent is worse than it looks in the photos errrrr

 

Take it to a body shop, some of those guys are magicians. Original is always better than replacement…

 

I'm not saying it can't be fixed but in my experience working on a number of these tailgates the top part is the hardest (as in very strong) part of them. I've tried to pull a number of dents and it's difficult at best. Bending the whole gate and then trying to bend it back might not be worth the effort as it looks like it was already damaged. I would do as Obscure says and see what a body shop has to say and then go from there ( I would assume it will cost more to repair it then a new one but I could be wrong). FB "Market Place" seems to always have a number of them listed in my area, not sure where your at but it might be worth keeping an eye on there for a while.

Good luck, hope you find a solution

 

Keep checking craigslist and facebook market place. I see tail gates poping up on a regular basis.

 

Can it be repaired? YES .

Can it be repaired economically? Compared to the cost of a re-pop, NO.

I have seen it done, they cut it all the way across the small radius on the top, then drilled out the spot welds down the outside edges, as well as across just above where the letter are, made repairs to the piece, then welded it back together. Not sure of the exact time spent, but I know there were a lot of manhours. So do it, so you're better off either looking for a really nice used one, or buying a re-pop. **But DO NOT throw yours away!

 

Something to consider is that a 73-79 tailgate willl fit and are a lot cheaper than a 67-72, especially for a repop . The body lines are a bit different, but are hardly noticeable,

 

I have a really nice tailgate here if your interested. If you want more pictures I have to climb up and take it off the wall. I’m pretty sure it has no rust issues. Been a while since I put it up there. Doug.

 

James pointed out to me that the tailgate I posted is not the right one. Upon looking closer I see that it’s indeed different. Sorry about that. I can’t remember what truck I got it from. Doug.