Easy Down Tailgate

Has anyone bought these hydraulics that lower your tailgate slowly ? I notice they now have them listed in Cabelas that fit 2009 Tacomas.

 

just put the easy down and hood struts on my truck from Redline Tuning: http://www.redlinetuning.com/products_ezdown.html
over the weekend. They work as described. Install was ten minutes, side note, there is not one listed at Redline for '09. I have an '07 , but looking at the Cabela's website the install and hard ware "look" similar. I have searched here and some threads say the modification is slightly different with Tacos above '07. Anyway if works you love it, i recommend the hood struts while youre at it.
Good luck.

 

i dont recomend it, i got it on my 07 taco and it is too tight in the gap and it chewed up my tailgate cable. Im guna use it till it breaks, then im done with them... if you do get it be ready to have to manually move your tailgate cable to the inside toward the tailgate itself to prevent it further chewing up your tailgate cable

 

yup my cable broke on the side with the strut. I was constantly getting crimped so it eventually broke. I do not recommend the ez down struts!

 

x2. Mine is getting pinched too and it pushes the tailgate off center. But besides that it works good

 

Fixed one problem and created a totally different one instead.

Looking at it real carefully you'll notice the shock does not sit perfectly strait. It leans, I personally think they made it wrong. If they has cut the bottom shock mount bracket a little deeper the shock would hang strait and then there would be room for the cable on the left hand side.

Cable seems to fit on the left hand side, but it's tight. If they would have cut the grove a little deeper it would work no problem.

I'm actually going to write them and see what they say.

 

I installed a simple black cable tie on the shock body and my cable fits perfectly and self centers itself every time. No frayed cable or sliding tailgate. It's been almost 2 years troublefree.

I guess it's my Italian ingenuity.

It's slick as snot on a doorknob.

Marc M

 

do u have a pic?

 

I actually didn't end up writing them. I did Mark M's trick and it cured it perfectly. I might have took pictures of it and posted them here already. There is several threads on these EzDowns.

It's pretty simple though. Need a good strong black tyrap about 3/16" inch size. Just stick it on at the bottom of the shock so the head of the tyrap will catch the cable. Problem solved. You might want to wrap a loop or two of black electrical tap around the shock first so the tyrap has more to bite on. It can slide around if it gets wet. I used industrial super glue to glue mine in place. If it gets wet it will move. The shock is just too smooth. Anyway it cured the cable pinch problem.

Look at the post by me on this thread for pics.

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/41901-ez-down-tailgate-strut.html

 

^ sounds good. i was thinking about shaving the tailgate edge till i read Marc M's method. gonna have to try it in the morning, gotta study for a final right now lol.

 

It's the easy fix, It works just make sure you use a high quality tyrap and get it on super tight with side cutters before you trim it. A wrap or two of electrical tape first will help lots then you might not need it that tight. I've never had a problem since. I didn't really have a problem but I wanted to make sure the cable could not ever get pinched.

 

yah mine is pinching so bad to the point where it'll stick the tailgate closed. i pretty much have to force it open, kinda defeating the purpose of this lol.

& thanks for the link! lol i looked through all of these ez down threads, must've missed it. i only saw pics of the cut tailgate edge.

 

When I installed it I looked at it carefully and kept thinking something is not right here. This is going to goof up. I almost took at back off and got the grove machined more to the left. Came here found that post tried it and it worked. Sometimes the simple solutions work the best. Would have been a pain to get that bracket in a lathe. It also then may have rusted.

 

^so i tried doing it that way, but it still rubbed. mine was rubbing like crazy from the beginning though, and like how some people said half of the people who buy it have it working fine, some, like me, have rubbing issues. it seemed like even with the cable tie method didn't move it enough. So ended up dremel-ing the tailgate down, catching my tailgate plastic on fire, and killed the dremel. but, it works perfectly now lol.

 

I don't get the rubbing. The head of the TyRap simply stops the cable from going beside the shock period. There is no room for it there so it simply cannot go there. It then will curl up in front of the shock instead. You have to have the tyrap on the correct direction to make the head catch shaped so it will catch the cable.. Backwards and it will keep slipping off the TyRap. Really this was a easy fix. You can slam the tailgate closed now as fast as you want and it never screws up.

 

Not trying to bash but what is this product really for? Is a 2nd gen tailgate that heavy? I have a 1st gen and in my opinion the tailgate is tiny. I doubt I would ever need help getting it down

 

It's not difficult to open it's more like it is way too easy to open and drops like a rock unexpectedly. Like if you antisipate it dropping no problem but if your not expecting it to drop like a rock it could get banged up on things in the way cause like you parked way too close or a trailer hitch handle in the way.

I kind of like it opening slower and more controlled. My other truck never did this and it caught me off guard a few times so I added the small shock.

Same as the hood shocks. Not necessary but when installed it's so much less of a pain in the ass. Think kids opening the tailgate or your wife with a arm full of bags. If your not expecting it it could slam down on something pretty good. It's more for others than you. You already know it drops like a rock when you flick the handle.

 

^ Having it open slower would def make sense when it falls and hits something. The slower rate would reduce the possibility of damage.