What year was the last year ford stopped stamping the FORD letters in the tailgates?

 

I have verified they stamped them till 1991. After that, not sure.

 

Thanks Dave. Would it be safe to assume that a factory tailgate with the stainless cover trim would have raised letters under it? I'm just trying to plan ahead with my project.

 

1991 and dwn yes, but the tailgate will have large holes in it for the trim to mount. But the embossed Ford will still be there. Some of the aftermarket tailgates may not have "FORD" on them, they may not have paid royalties to Ford to have the tailgate lettering on it.

 

Awesome thanks Dave. the trucks I'm getting are coming with 4 tailgates, 1 new aftermarket and 3 factory. Hopefully one of the factory gates is in good enough shape that I can repair it but if not. maybe I can cut out the embossed letter section out of one and graft it on the new gate... We shall see. Looking forward to the day they get delivered.

 

Write in and tell us how the different gates compare. I have heard the aftermarket gates are very thin and would not hold up well to regular truck use.

 

I've heard the same thing... I'll do a side by side when it all gets here...

 

I agree with Dave 100%, I recently replaced my 91 tailgate with an aftermarket one due to damage, but the factory one had half a dozen 19mm holes in it for the trim panel and yes it had ford embossed on it.

 

I was looking at tailgates on car-parts.com and the XLT Lariat gates with the shiny trim were generally more expensive than plain Jane tailgates. I think I'd sell the one with the trim and get a plain Jane gate. Less holes to fill if you want to see FORD.

 

Here's what the holes look like if you remove that AL panel. Well that and, backing into a tree a couple of times

 

Those really don't look too bad to weld.

 

I would have welded mine up if my tailgate wasn't so bad, due to the fact that the factory gates seemed to be a lot better quality (as usual), not so many sharp edges and hey I think it looks way better. But that's my 2 cents worth.