No particular recommendations, but if ordering online and not verified quality, look at the weight.
Cheap ones are significantly lighter if you compare.
oh god really they are lighter? thats not a good thing for most people but My body would ******* appreciate my actions more if i didnt have as much to lift and hold out from me to take off and put on a tailgate. its laborous and im pretty sure the way I do it is the right way. I hold it perpendicular to my body, with my arm making a hypotenuse to the center bottom of the tailgate(proper orientation, balance is best and then walk it in and install cup onto the circle side, then orient myself the other direction since i can rest weight on the cup, lift the gate so its about 45 up from being inline with the bed, then install the other trunnion cup thing over the thing because that approach allows it in the slot on the tailgate, then hold it flat,over extend the link, lift gate, and over the shaped stud thing then push in and lower then walk over and repeat on the other link.
but this whole time trying to hold an object larger than myself at a slightly inopportune way. If I have to walk with the tailgate i either hug it or overhead because i cant reach the bottom if its under my arm which would be so nice if i could -_-
i made the rest small because its some brain melt not many will want to read but i welcome any resposne if you do.
But grit dog, on serious note, do you by chance know
how much lighter a cheaper tailgate is, like is it specifically cost is proportional to weight because Id be the one person in the world who would love a cheap ass tailgate that wouldnt cut it on a truck that isnt just for show. lol
I dont know what ford puts in them but my 96 tailgate is one heavy ****** and its really no more structurally robust as the square tailgate, just has a nicer handle and the skin looks flat despite not being flat, whereas my squares the skin shows the bend a bit but not like end of the world bad
The following is observations on two gmc tailgates 77 and 80 i believe.(left to right)
that bed on left is 80 and the right is 78, if matters. this is all nieche stuff that may be of interest, may not.
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if anyone is curious I believe the tailgate on the right to be the original 1980 GMC tailgate off my square as the paint job doesnt seem to match my truck but it has that black stripe going on and has molding strips on it while my square was painted in the same white and brown but with minor accenting with black and i believe the molding was different but that would have been my grandpas personal choice since he repainted and did auto body for many years, i can tell by the spots of lead i find all over lol
Anyway, that blue circle is a tree or something looks to fell into it and the tailgate in yellow would have came from probably the same bed as a 77 he took apart and i have the frame and trans/tcase on and the hood on my truck now. I say that bcause it was a lighter more gold kind of brow before I JD yellowed it. It was full of moss and rust and dirt so who knows tho
That tailgate was pinned by something that hit it near that latch and pushed it out of shape so the handle feels weird and i used a grinder to grind cclearance for it to move becase the tailgate started tearing in the center and i couldnt latch it lol. I think I figured out why its tearing, seee my bed sides. FIrst here to confirm it, squarebody tailgate skins are not up to snuff tensile wise to support both sides pulling on the tailgate. Not sure anyone even asked but thats what im here for, useless or peculiar information that crossed very few people before. Im joking lol, but i know some find it annoying but some also find it neat
the side is going to eventually damage the frame on my topper because the topper ive noticed is really putting on a stretch if you open the door. If anyone has a suggestion on how to keep the bed sides from bowing outward and the answer not be a a new floor because I have good bedsides if the besideitself is to blame. but if its floor supports my next question is an idea for a creative solution to push outward from the bottom or somehow brace it from the frame at the rear straight out and allow the bed to rest on that because I could add shims or jack up the side , install solution, then relieve.I have a lot of metal stock and could probably find something to go across length wise or smaller sections and do something special. im just woried about the leverage that distance puts on stuff. if it can be mocked up i could always get it welded.
