Weak Bed Rails?
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FTE Legend
Joined: Jul 2005
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From: Millersville, MD
XLnAK
If you read my fist few posts on this, you would have seen that was EXACTLY what I did. I tied one end of the come-a-long to a tree and other to an eye bolt screwed in in place of driver's side latch pin and left pressure on it overnight. I did NOT attempt to pull the side (only Driver's side is bowed) in all at once.
If you read my fist few posts on this, you would have seen that was EXACTLY what I did. I tied one end of the come-a-long to a tree and other to an eye bolt screwed in in place of driver's side latch pin and left pressure on it overnight. I did NOT attempt to pull the side (only Driver's side is bowed) in all at once.
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From: Buffalo NY
Other than the flapping, which would be very visible and audible, I don't see how a tailgate with no mechanical attachment to the bed rails could have prevented the bending.
My vote is it got pushed out by the trailer.
Think about it... when you close the tailgate, you are just putting the "locks" inside a hole, they aren't holding anything from going back and forth, other than the tailgate itself.
If there was such excessive flapping that it is that far out of wack, then you would also see signs on the other side... if it was flapping, you would have seen or heard it.
My vote is it got pushed out by the trailer.
Think about it... when you close the tailgate, you are just putting the "locks" inside a hole, they aren't holding anything from going back and forth, other than the tailgate itself.
If there was such excessive flapping that it is that far out of wack, then you would also see signs on the other side... if it was flapping, you would have seen or heard it.
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From: Buffalo NY
The original tailgate does not stop the bedrails from swaying outward... which is the mechanical attachment I was referring to. The v-gate doesn't do this either. If you look at it you will see that if you were to pull outward on the bedrail, the tailgate would do absolutely nothing to stop it.
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FTE Legend
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From: Millersville, MD
If what you say is so, why did only the LEFT (driver's) side bow outward from the top? The right side is still right where it was origially. I think that somehow. somewhere, something contacted the left side and pushed it out unbeknowest to me.... I'll keep trying to pull it back in via the tree/come-a-long method.....slowly!
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FTE Legend
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From: Millersville, MD
Did the tree thing again today and !! it brought it back enough so I could take the big washer off one side to make the tailgate latch. There is NO WAY that the wind coming off the trailer caused that side rail to bow out like that. The force necessary to bring it back was a damn lot of force and it still wasn't enough to bring it back enough. I will try again tomorrow to bring it back some more. Just wanted to insure that I didn't pull it in too quickly and bend something back too far, too soon. Slow is good!
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FTE Legend
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From: Millersville, MD
Again today I hooked the come-a-long to the tree and really tightened it up...so much that I saw the S hook starting to bend out!! Figured I didn't want that thing coming off and hitting me in the head, so I stopped, left it there for a couple of hours and removed it. Shut the tailegate...worked good, still. Removed the big washer off the OTHER side and - wa-lah - it fits now without washers in EITHER side. I have another camping trip set up in 3 weeks and another for Halloween, so I'm gonna leave the standard tailgate in instead of using the V-gate and see what happens. That means that the standard gate will be there now till spring.
If it doesn't bow anymore till spring, I will start using the V-Gate again then. See ya all next spring!!
If it doesn't bow anymore till spring, I will start using the V-Gate again then. See ya all next spring!!
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From: Buffalo NY
Originally Posted by BPofMD
If what you say is so, why did only the LEFT (driver's) side bow outward from the top? The right side is still right where it was origially. I think that somehow. somewhere, something contacted the left side and pushed it out unbeknowest to me.... I'll keep trying to pull it back in via the tree/come-a-long method.....slowly!
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From: Buffalo NY
Preventing air buildup isn't necessarily the solution. The tailgate, not v-gate, actually creates a pocket of air in the bed, the v-gate might do just the opposite.
I see what you're saying though.
I see what you're saying though.
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Joined: Jan 2007
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weak bed rails
what about the weak rails? Mine bow out if my rear ladder rack bar is off. There is a split coming down the middle of the vertical end of the bend.Picture the flat section at the bottom that is covered when the tg is shut.
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