What tailgate will fit?

[warhog]

I have an 86 dually with no tailgate While she's under going a heart transplant, I figured i would tinker with the other things I need. What years and style tail gates will fit my truck? There's one for what they say is an 82 step side (with the chains) pretty cheap near me. Can I make that work? If not, will any 82+ fit?

 

[Iowa 73]

Step side gate won't work. Any other full sized gate from '80-'97 will work.

 

[warhog]

the step side gate would have looked sweet. Any particular reason? Too narrow? But thanks for the other info, there's a yard right by me that has a few

 

[Iowa 73]

Too narrow?

Yep. Also does not have the latch mechanism.

 

[warhog]

Yeah I didn't mind the latch part, the chains would have worked just fine imo. Oh well

 

[War Wagon]

'87 to '97 are a different tailgate. They don't use the same latches. You need a tailgate from an '80 to '86. The flare side tailgate will not work.

 

[warhog]

Well then, the closest one is about 3 hours away argh.

 

[franklin2]

Not all tailgates are created equal. They are all dimensionally the same, and possibly could be made to work, but not all will drop right in. It's in the hardware and the latches that was already mentioned. The very early tailgates(I know 1980, but don't know how far up in years they go) had metal straps and did not have cables to support the gate when it's down. Then through the years they changed to the cables, and the hardware, the latches, etc.

If when you got the tailgate, you got all the other stuff with it off the truck, you could probably make it work with a little swapping and possibly some drilling.

 

[CGBear]

I had a tailgate off an 82 or 83 on my 93 for a while. I had to swap latches off the donor truck to make it work. Now I've got one off another 93 and had to go back to the original latches. It's less work to just find the right one, but I already had the old tailgate and didn't have any spare money so I made what I had work.

 

[warhog]

Found a truck with a decent tailgate today (forget the year, early 80s). Grabbed it and all the hardware. Sanded er down and painted it nice nice. Won't be an exact match to the truck, but it's close enough. I work my trucks so i'm not worried about it. I tried to spray the FORD white, but it came out like ****. Anyone have any tips? Would I be better off with a itty bitty paint brush?

 

[franklin2]

Here's one way to do it.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1980-86-FOR...Parts_Accessories&hash=item43aa8b4956&vxp=mtr

 

[warhog]

you're the man!