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Decided to refinish the tailgate for my F350 as it had what I thought was just surface rust After sandblasting, I found lots of pinholes and rust is obviously worse than I thought. Started to replace some metal but have now decided to skim coat with fibreglass reinforced filler and repaint then run it for now. Most of the sheet metal is covered by the Lariat trim anyway but I think I will source a nicer tailgate before wasting too much time on this one. Too bad as it’s super straight but rusted badly from the inside. Anyone recommend any reproduction brands out there? Trying to find a good used one is easier said than done!
I would not waste your time or $ on a LMC repop, a beer can has thicker metal. Repair as needed, you seem to have a handle on it. Besides you can not see the tailgate in your rear view mirror. Lol
I have been pleased with a tailgate for my 77 from Dennis Carpenter. (I also bought one for my 51 from D.C.) Good thick metal, same gauge as original. They advertise that they purchased the old stamping dies directly from Ford. Based on the end product, I believe them. I cannot speak to LMC, have no experience with their tailgates
Thanks for the advice guys. I will likely go with Dennis Carpenter if I cant source a decent used tailgate locally. I've always been pleased with the quality of previous parts ordered from DC. Their stuff is not the cheapest, but as the saying goes, pay once, cry once!
I wish I had the talent to do stuff like that.
Good on you!!
Thanks! Doing body work is definitely not my forte but I enjoy learning as I go, and of course its always a good excuse to hang out in the shop and drink beer!
Just read carefully on the DC website. A lot of the original tooling stuff has been quietly replaced with overseas re-pops. I was just on their site yesterday and they are starting to label them a little more blatantly after much protest. I had my suspicions when I ordered a core support for my 65. I was disappointingly correct once I received it, but at least is was a pretty good quality of Chinesium, so I kept it.
yes the sad part is where a lot of the re pops are being made, way to much made in china for anyone in the restoration biz. i do a lot of model A up to 34 cars and trucks, one issue is where is it available from when it is needed, how fast can we get it? if not available how many hours of labor will be needed to repair the item. than a very big ?, can i live with a lower grade item.
It's not just a question of material thickness, the alloy used in aftermarket panels is not the same recipe as the OEM was, but that's not to say all reproes are unusable or even undesirable for a given purpose. .I dare say for a guy wanting a nice looking truck for cruising, most aftermarket panels are just fine. With tailgates, just go easier on loading it with the gate dropped down as they often will not support loading like OEM ones did.
sadly thats all so true, we use mostly brookville for a bone and 32 parts yet even they have gone thinner, the 29 sedan delivery we just finished OMG try finding parts for that, the rear door we had to make the tin from a 2 door body rear section, since they shared the rear window ,
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