2nd gen to 3rd gen tailgate

Not having seen a 3rd gen in person yet, the pics that I have seen is a bad ass tailgate......has anyone thought to see if there is a way to swap out to a 3rd gen gate to a 2nd gen ? Just curious but would do it in a heartbeat if it's a possibility.

 

Many have asked and the same answer is given, no way no how. Unless you want to graft the tailgate face onto your 2nd gen tailgate for some $$ or you are damn good at metal work, it isn't a plug n play by any means. Thickness is totally different. Width is probably slightly off. Curvature might be a bit different.

 

Ok cool thanks for the info

 

Where there's a will there's a way.

 

possibly changing over the whole bed from a 2016 to a 2015?

 

The 3rd and 2nd gen "bed" is exactly the same its all the other pieces you would need. Probably require all the metal pieces where the tailgate latches to if that's different as well as to make everything even and line up would need fenders and everything. Otherwise would take a hell of a lot of custom work. At that point the rear won't match the front.

Which is why grafting the 2016 gate face would probably be the better answer over retrofitting the entire tailgate. Some guys who did a 2nd gen overland build thread both found here and on Expedition Portal grafted one of the old Toyota Pickup embossed tailgates into a 2nd gen gate.

This page you can see the grafted tailgate, and there is a before pic on the 1st page:
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/77748-Containerized-Retromod-Global-Tacoma/page28