Tailgate theft prevented but bed still opened

Where? Comformnia? New York? Police sometimes do not arrest burglars there because the paperwork on the arrest takes longer the the "release on own recognizance" process.

 

My Daughter is a State Investigator for Georgia She covers 13 Counties by herself and has 99 problems. Tailgates are not on her list with child molestors and rapists and murders and drug dealers etc.

 

Thank you for your insight but I was not referring to your daughter. I apologize if for some reason you thought I was. I’m thinking more on the line of local police departments in the jurisdiction that the crime occurred not on the state level.

 

OP: Using a washer over the cable eye works well, you have to put a spacer behind it though otherwise it won’t rotate on the bolt. Without it, I think pinching the cable eye was a great idea.

Don’t depend on a hose clamp as a deterrent, you can pry and break those off with a screwdriver in less than 10 seconds. Try it.

 

Used tailgates (Toyota and domestics) are readily sold at Houston flea markets. The sellers even have display racks for them. This flea market selling has been in place for years.

 

Anyone want a tailgate? A guy in LA on CL is taking pre-orders for “any color wanted”!

 

Yeah looking at that im going to remove the slotted mount and make a bracket and or TIG the slot closed. Ill never remove the tailgate

 

I can assure you that the local police are just as busy with more serious crimes than tailgate theft.

 

Local police do not even respond to fender-benders on private property (grocery stores, for example) unless people are hurt.

 

Local police are too busy giving speeding tickets to people doing 5 over in the typical speed traps. They won't even show up for theft, regardless of value. There's no money in it for them.

 

I knew that was CA without even reading that you were from CA xD

Would be funny if you had live alligator in your bed waiting tailgate to be opened

 

Feed the alligator only small scraps once a week ...

 

I was going to install TC bed stiffeners. Am i going to have to remove the tailgate for the install?

 

No, but you need to remove the taillight assemblies (not disconnect, just unlock them and set aside). You need to drill holes through the side of the bed, which you want to do carefully because there is hard steel hidden by the bedsides and going too fast will have the drill bit rev right into those steel supports.

Just take a moment before you drill or pull and you should be fine. Get a full set of T-<> bits instead of just one bit from Home Depot for the large bolt on the bed floor and to have all the other sizes for the bed

You *may* want to have some spare nuts for the holes that emerge behind the steel supports ... I lost one of those during install (easy to lose grip, then it falls into a black hole) but had enough left to finish installing one side and drive to Ace hardware so I could install the other size. Or do not buy extras ... I learned from that blunder.

 

I was planning on looking into something like that when I install the OEM power lock. Also considering something like this as I have a DB HD that I can open first to access it:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/diy-tailgate-lock.604123/#post-20351716

 

The problem with that it has a torq (sp?) bolt that cab easily be removed which is why I drilled out the torq bolt heads - granted if you or the shop ever had to remove the tailgate you or the shop would have to take an angle grinder to the bolt head . . . . oh well.

 

What @RichochetRabbit said.

I haven't drilled the holes he explains...but I'll get to it. lol