Looking for help/suggestions about '79 tailgate

[steaks]

I'm new here, please bear with

So I bought a 1979 C10 fleetside last week, and started working on it on it in my spare time. The right side of the tailgate drops slightly when opening it, but when the gate is laying open it seems fairly secure. So I figured I could buy all new hinge hardware and wrap up one of my first projects pretty quickly. After some inspection, it turned out drop on the right hand side was due to the trunnion coming completely disconnected from the gate. So, I attempted to remove the tailgate from the truck, but quickly realized that the hinge on the left hand side was rusted together. To remove, I had to unbolt the left hand side hinge from the bed.

I looked online for replacement parts, and found that I could only buy the bed's half of the hinge for a 79 tailgate, since the piece that fits inside is technically part of the tailgate itself. Here's my options, should I...

1. Keep all my existing hardware, weld the old right hand trunnion back onto the tailgate (making sure to line the slot up with the opening on the gate). And make do with the fact that I'll have to unbolt the hinge from the bed any time I want to remove the gate from the truck.

2. Buy new *1981* tailgate trunnions to fix my 1979 tailgate, try to pry the rusted left hand side hinge free from my tailgate, then drill holes or weld the new tailgate hardware on, and mount the newer '81 hardware to the bed to make sure it fits correctly.

3. Buy new 1979 bed hinge hardware as well as a new 1979 tailgate (that would have the trunnions installed by default). Certainly the easiest route to go, but by far the most expensive.

I cant be the only one to experience this issue, please let me know your recommendations!

 

[Jarhead79]

I bought a new tailgate, first tailgate I bought was for newer trucks though, guy at the place where I can get parts saw the front end and assumed I had an 87 since my front end is of that year, ended up having to go back and swap it for the right gate.It isn't a perfect fit but it's better by far than my old dented up gate. Outside of old gate was ok but inside was beat to hell. If ya lived close is offer ya mine for $100. I'm going with a stepside bed here soon, if I could ever get it taken apart to paint it and but new fenders for it.

 

[steaks]

Thanks for the reply, and offer, but I don't live near you so I don't think we can make it work.

You do raise a good point... there is a 4th option, trying to find a used gate locally. I'm new to the auto world, trying to expand my knowledge base and do something fun, so I decided to buy an old truck to tinker with. I should get into the mindset of finding a deal on used parts *BEFORE* I default to buying new!

I was hoping someone could chime in on my option #2. I would really like to make that setup work, and any insight would be appreciated!