Reinforced Steel Tailgate Skin by Mobtown Offroad

How much for a ribbed one shipped to 66043?

 

Tailgate Skin is $150 plus $20 shipping and handling.

 

Well this sucks. All I have been asking to see was a picture of the product on the truck before the sale ends, and sale ended plus no picture.

 

I didn't read through all the pages but is there a package deal for the cap and the skin?
Although I don't need one now I will in the future!

 

subbed

 

Agreed. Missed out on my money too.

 

I'll post some pictures when I install mine tomorrow, fedex should be dropping it off. I'm sure Joe will still honor the discount, pm him.

 

That I will. It is my fault that I have not had time to put pictures up. Things have been incredibly busy here. I will do my best to get them up this weekend. I will honor the discount up to one week after I put pictures up.

 

I haven't offered a package deal on the two together but I will look into it. Need to crunch numbers first.

 

I'm doing the same thing, just waiting for it to arrive...

 

Awesome! +1!

 

Came home today to a brown package by the front door..i may be close to the shipping point but i bought it late on the 16th and its here today! Not too bad...will get to putting it on this weekend, stay tuned!

 

Alright, I received the revised skin *without ribs. Here's a few pictures of the install to help people decide on this purchase. It fits perfect thanks to Joe!

What I used to cut the tabs off:



3 of these tabs behind the OEM skin must come off:





As you can see, the revised skin *without ribs fits perfectly:





The install:

 

Can you please post one with the tailgate up...I want to see the tailgate top cap when the tailgate is up and look from the back of the truck. Thank you!

 

Thank you so much for the write up! Really helped us out, we've been swamped!

 

No problem Joe, thank you!

Not sure what you're trying to see from the cap pictures, but snapped a few photos for you:

 

I thought you bought arsenj0365's metal tail gate cap as well... I didn't know they are the factory original plastic top cap cover. Arsenj0365 sells the top cap in metal as well. Thank you for the photos though. I also have MGM truck, but mine is regular cab.

 

Oh I see, I'm aware that he makes a metal cap, I wanted to buy one at one point but opted for the factory look. No worries dude!

 

Ok, just got done with the install. Took me about 2 hr's but i'm somewhat anal and i took my time. This is for a ribbed skin with putting the oem cover back on:
1) Product came wrapped in bubble wrap and like someone else on here the one of the square corners was slightly bent. Not really a big problem, just put a towel over the corner, bent it gently with a pair of pliers and back to normal with no problems. Just as a suggestion, i think they need some kind of corner braces to prevent it from happening but even still, only a 2 minute to fix....Skin has a little bend to it but it is a piece of sheet metal and it all flattens out when you install. Powder coating was really nice and all of the hole's in the skin lined up perfectly with the holes in the oem skin as well as the holes in the tailgate, but that was expected.



2) took off the oem skin and top piece. T-30 torx gets'm all out. Take all of the screws out first and then take off the oem skin first. You need to get to the tabs that are at the very top that hold the top plastic piece in place which are inside the tailgate. Just squeeze the plastic pieces together with needle nose pliers and the whole top piece just pops out. Not too difficult. After you get the skin and top piece off you need to decide if your going to install the metal threaded inserts or leave the oem white plastic clips. I decided to use the inserts cause i wanted this to be as strong as possible. Steel beats plastic....Important note here, if your putting the oem plastic skin back on you'll have to use the metal threaded inserts. With the metal skin and the oem skin the small screws are not long enough to catch the plastic clips or that"s at least how i saw it but i was going with the metal anyway. The white clips come off by using the needle nose pliers to squeeze the underside together and pry up the top with a screwdriver. A little bit of a pain in the ass because of the locations but overall not to bad. Next you need to drill out the square holes with a 13/32" drill bit and don't push to far or you'll hit the outside of the tailgate! Metal threaded inserts pop right in and tighten up with a 1/2" box wrench and a 7/16" socket. Important note here; these required more force than i expected to get them to tighten up to the tailgate framing but i started using a 3/8" drive but it was a little easier with a 1/2" drive. Either way they take some force and when your done they should be snug and not move. See pics:


3) After the metal threaded inserts are installed i laid the metal skin onto the tailgate and lined up the holes, everything looked good. I then put the oem skin on top, it fit perfectly. I then put the plastic top piece back on, lined up the holes and started putting the bolt and washers provided in each hole. In case anyone doesn't know, just put them in loosely and tighten them up after you get them all started just to make sure everything is lined up correctly. After i got them all in i tightened them all up. Just an observation, the washers provided have a slightly larger diameter hole than the bolts so some of them might push to one side a little and not be perfectly centered. Not by much and if you hold them as you tighten the bolts you can pretty much keep them centered. Also wish the bolts and washers came in black but nothing a little spray paint couldn't fix and actually after it was installed i hardly noticed. I probably won't even paint them. After it was all installed and tightened down i checked the gaps on either side of the tailgate for the latches, they looked exactly like before i touched anything and the gate closes nicely. Slight tighter to the body as it it latches but nothing crazy. The oem skins fit perfectly. The instructions provided are thorough too.....


4) Overall i have to say this is a professionally built product and is better than what i expected. Installation is fairly easy and the tailgate is totally solid now! I"m about 170 lbs and i can jump onto the tailgate and it doesn't deflect AT ALL! The whole back of the truck goes down though! Anyone wanting to sure up the tailgate, this is a definitely a very good option that i would recommend. Ordering was easy, shipping was slightly less than what Joe quoted me and i can't say enough about the solidness of my tailgate now. Very happy, thanks Joe.....Hope this long winded install helps someone!

 

if it bends like that from shipping don't you worry about the flex it will have when you put a load on it?