How I'm fixing my flexy tailgate...

sub'd i might consider this strongly

 

you did a good job, finished photo looks flawless

 

Hey There, me and my buddy paul met you at the z2 trackday

 

nice mod

 

how do i get my signature to work -_-

NVM fixed it =D

 

Responded to your email.

 

Were you the guys from the Laguna trackday?

His install looks amazing. I just Herculinered mine and left it uncovered, but his extra effort to include the stock inner liner came out amazing.

Thanks! Trust me, this was done out of necessity.

 

I have pics somewhere but I reinforced my tailgate with some aluminum angle and used some of the bendable flaps in the tailgate to bolt em down to...if anyone is interested in photos I can dig em up n post em. It was a free cheap easy mod. The only reason it was free I had some aluminum angle lying around.

 

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Ordered one from Justus, sending check to him tomorrow and looking forward to see how it looks when I install it.

I will post some pics when I install it.

.

 

Hi Folks-

I've got some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that some of the tailgates have some oxidation. I've been storing these in my garage under a blanket and my girlfriend parks her car over them. She uses the air conditioning a lot and her car was dripping on the tailgates in one spot. This eventually soaked through the blankets getting to the tailgates.

It's not really a big deal, though, as this is just some light surface oxidation. They'll need to be scuffed up for painting/herculinering/etc. and this comes right off.

But the good news is that because of my mistake I'm lowering the price on them. I just sent out my last flawless one so I have four left that range from barely noticeable oxidation to surface rust.

From left to right the prices are $125, $100, $100, and $50. (+shipping)



$125 (+shipping)



$100 (SOLD)



$100 (+shipping)



$50 (+shipping)



Again, my bad, but wanted everyone to know what was left.

 

I want one but have not even purchased my 2012 yet...Are you going to be making any more of these?

 

I don't know, but I'm leaning towards no. I made this up quite some time ago and they sat in the garage for a while. However, that's my fault as I did zero 'marketing' of these; it has all been word of mouth.

I just don't know yet.

 

Looks great but i still dont understand how a "sheet" of metal will make it stronger with no extra ribbing or gussets or something more then just a sheet

 

It's not just a sheet. The top of this plate wraps around the top of the tailgate gives the tailgate strength. However, you're absolutely right, though, that ribbing would give it even more strength.

But compared to the plastic tailgate that comes stock? Much better.

 

Gotcha and it would be better if it could wrap the bottom too to sort of make a big "C" channel

 

Excellent idea. I can see how that could be included, as well as bailerc's idea of dimpling. However, I doubt I'll do another run of these. We'll see. But as these sat in my garage long enough to rust I'm not optomistic.

 

Chiming back in here. Been using mine for the better part of the summer, including motorcycle loading;



They work well, no flexing, plenty strong. Although quite heavy. I actually took it apart again and cut out a bunch of triangles to try to reduce weight without compromising strength (as the strength comes primarily from the bend that wraps over the top of the gate, it's still plenty strong.)

dp

 

Canyonchaser, that's good to hear!

Here's an update, folks. #2 is spoken for, so I have 3 tailgates left:

$125, $---, $100, $50.

 

Got my support yesterday. Let me say it does seem strong. Might want to send this thread to toyota and tell them to get their heads of out their asses. Anyway I have a few questions on the install.

From both threads I can tell I need to bend out the middle lip to conform to the tailgate; can I just bang a 2*4 block in the exact middle to get it to bend out there enough? As to the 2mm on each end, was this a need to overcome a limitation on the tailgate/bed, or was this done to make is aesthetically pleasing (in other words can I leave it as is and still use the OEM plastic)?

I plan to put a coat of primer. two coats of black rattle can car paint, two-four coats of clear coat protectant all around before install. I think this should be good enough to keep the rust at bay.

Is there anything I am missing here?

 

I used a long piece of 2x4 and a BFH and wedged it into the middle, banging the ever loving hell out of, and it still barely moved. That cold-rolled steel is mighty strong. Plan a lot of time to do this.

Nope. If you want to use the OEM plastic, which will be a lot less slippery when wet, you'll need to shave the edges. This will make perfect sense when you dry fit it.

I'd advise against "rattle can paint" and strongly suggest the can of bed-liner that comes with a roller. It'll hold up a lot better than Car-paint and clear because it's intended to deal with those types of duties better than paint.

You'll need to adjust the latches on the side of the gate to get it to close.

Be extremely careful fitting and removing the plate. If you are not careful, the curled lip and bend designed to go around the top of your gate will scratch the hell out of the paint.

Thats about all I can remember about the job.

Here is the original post of my install;
http://www.customtacos.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1812577&postcount=18

dp