Was wondering if anybody has a tip on removing the tailgate. I am not sure if it was originally put together this way or the PO did it but the bolts have the nuts inside the tail stakes. I cant figure out how to get a tool down there to get the nuts off. Anybody, please help?

 

at least on every one I've seen, the nuts are welded on, so you just remove the bolts..

that way on mine

sam

 

well either, mine are different (figures) or the weld broke (doubtful but would be my luck). It just spins and I can look down the stake and watch the nut spin. Might resort to drilling them out and then putting a bolt that goes all the way through to the light bracket.

 

they make the long bolts that do that.. I got some, but didn't use them.. isn't the stake pocket bottom open? A long handled wrench (new tool???) should work tho..

sam

 

nope the pockets are capped with a weep hole at the bottom. long handled wrench would have to be close to 2 feet and I cant tell what size the nut is in the pocket. Thanks for the quick responses, any other ideas would be great.

 

I feel your pain! Mine had been replaced by lag bolts , so I drilled out the holes to 1/4". Wrapped mechanics' wire around a fresh bolt with serrated lockwasher, and dropped it down the stake hole, fished around til it poked out of the hole. I grabbed it and got a nut started before it could fall in. For the lower hole I welded a bolt to a piece of sheet metal so it wouldn't spin and did about the same thing.

 

drilled out the old bolts and found that the nuts had rusted solid to the bolts. Probably from sitting in water, since there was all kinds of stuff in there (glass that i dont even begin to know how to get out). I have bolts in now that go all the way through to the light brackets, such a better setup. Thanks for the help guys.

cbass