Installed LMC Repro Tailgate Hinges/Trunnions On My '82 K10, Not Quite Bolt On

[t44e6]

Ordered a complete set of hinges and trunnions from LMC trucks, the originals on my 82 were worn and on the left side the weld between the cup and the base had broken loose. They seem to be well made. The bolt holes on the "hinge" portion that bolts to the taligate itself had undersized mounting holes instead of the 3/8" holes of the original. It only took a few minutes to drill them out, but it was a reminder that when you buy reproduction parts you may need to do some fitting! Have any of you run into a similar issue? Does your truck have 2 different sizes of fasteners? GM does likes to use multiple sizes on one assembly but I think this is just a QC issue. Tailgate is held much more securely when latched now, and aside from that issue they function as they should. As always a soaking with Kroil ahead of time made it easier to remove the mounting hardware and running the bolts through a thread cleaning die and applying a dab of anti-seize made reassembly a breeze.

 

[AuroraGirl]

Ordered a complete set of hinges and trunnions from LMC trucks, the originals on my 82 were worn and on the left side the weld between the cup and the base had broken loose. They seem to be well made. The bolt holes on the "hinge" portion that bolts to the taligate itself had undersized mounting holes instead of the 3/8" holes of the original. It only took a few minutes to drill them out, but it was a reminder that when you buy reproduction parts you may need to do some fitting! Have any of you run into a similar issue? Does your truck have 2 different sizes of fasteners? GM does likes to use multiple sizes on one assembly but I think this is just a QC issue. Tailgate is held much more securely when latched now, and aside from that issue they function as they should. As always a soaking with Kroil ahead of time made it easier to remove the mounting hardware and running the bolts through a thread cleaning die and applying a dab of anti-seize made reassembly a breeze.

It sounds like to me it was a QA of the product for sure.

The worst issue Ive encountered with GM is the tendancy to mix SAE and Metric on the late SAE/"fully" metric era. Until 2009 the water pump, intake, top end, oil pan etc on the 3800 used SAE bolts but the **** all around it went metric before the 3800 was a label(3.8)
Also GM having a fond love for 1/2 inch instead of 13mm on suspension / hub bolts for some cars but no rhyme or reason, it felt like.


Also, gms love to shake up things like caliper bracket anchor bolts, slide pin bolts but not the overall threads sometimes just the heads from year to year.



Then lastly, when they went to TTY for everything and its god damn mother on their stuff in 2006+

Just to try and squeeze bolt sales out of people. But it didnt work that well, just lead to an entire gen of GM cars now existing with half of its suspension/brake parts on bolts which were taken out and put back so they are possibly close to failing everywhere. Great times.

Then when GM cant decide on their torque specs in the FSM. Is it just gonna be torque, torque angle, need threadlocker, etc...

 

[t44e6]

@AuroraGirl I just remember way back in the day doing mundane stuff like changing a bet I would need a 1/2 AND a 9/16, but on some old Mopars you can practically do everything with a 1/2" wrench