Homemade Tailgate Insert?

Was seeing if anyone has made their own versus spending $400 on a piece of plastic. Was thinking if I found a sheet of Kydex big enough, I could cut it to size and add my own cupholder inserts. Anyone toy around with this? I tried searching but may have missed some info so apologies there. Thanks

 

i made my own.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...3rd-gen-today.399305/page-14221#post-30085650

 

heck yea, love it. Did you give any thought to adding a cupholder or two? I figured maybe there was a way to add some shallow ones and drop them in or mount from underneath so its flush on top since my platform basically butts up to the tailgate when its fully closed

 

thought about it but I wouldn't have the need + when i get onto the tailgate, it'll just be a weak spot to break through the panel. if i need to put a beer down to do something, i usually just finish it first

 

that's fair. i was thinking of it more so as a catch all. im usually swapping tackle or something on my tailgate and it would be nice to have a spot to put things where it won't roll off. i guess my first step is sourcing the material and taking apart the existing panel and mocking things up. thanks for your input!

 

No problem. I got my sheet from island wide plastics in sayville down by the ferries.

 

I made one a while back as well. It wasn't plastic though

 

Do you recall how much that cost?

 

$60, i included the figures in the post i linked

 

Made mine out of aluminum tread plate years ago - way better than plastic. Also got threaded "nut-serts" and stainless Torx to put it onto the tailgate to screw it down tight. Also laid out and added a row through the middle just for good measure. Use 1/8" 6061 aluminum if you can - it has the same strength as mild steel.

 

oh dope, I didn't realize you were on LI when you originally posted. I'm in Huntington so not terribly far to shoot over there

 

This looks like it would hurt more to kneel on than the original lol

 

Thanks bud.

 

Looks great,but thats gonna be slicker then dog shit when it gets wet. I took some skateboard grip tape and placed it on mine. Ill take pictires tonight.

 

I didn’t have it listed when I posted but saw you were and figured it would help if you needed to find some. The guy there was very helpful and he chamfered the edges for me. It’s super easy to work with btw.

edit - I added a sheet of self adhesive foam boat/jet ski decking last fall. It’s held up pretty well

 

this might just be my weekend project, good info thanks.

 

https://snailarmor.com/products/sna...FnQIZVrJEZ8TXxuYkvLrgqLRetkQO-aMgADrQBP1pKRmt

How about $200 for a piece of aluminum. I'm not very crafty so I don't mind spending the money when somebody else can do it better than me.

 

Here's mine. The Indians are skateboard grip tape i had laying around. And the (doa) letters are grip tape as well.
I slipped when it was wet and almost busted my ass. The grip tape made it better.

The metal is aluminum sheet.

 

I also made my own, then I wasn't a huge fan of how little it helped with tailgate strength. I ended up getting the relentless fab aluminum one and sandwiched my aluminum one under it. Then added rivnuts and stainless hardware. Works great for hauling bikes now.