Castel Gate King 50% off

I agree. Something for those to consider while thinking about buying. Hopefully the Gate King guys are still developing this product to make it a simple install that you can leave and forget. It's a great, simple concept, but inately complicated in its execution. Maybe they have some install tips to prevent our problems.

I can tell you that the chain clip mod was sounding pretty nice and simple when I was trying to access my kids roller skates last night, while she impatiently waited a half hour for me to problem shoot how to get in. I eventually gave up on the retainer rods and after summoning every curse word I could, disassembled my tailgate with a allen key so that I could actually open my tailgate. I got it working again later at home, as I previously described in my first post.

 

Just an update. I finally messaged the Gate King, once my metal plates wouldn't stop spinning, and without hesitation, they sent me a new product. They said mine sounded defective. I installed the new ones and they've been working great for a few weeks. I believe that the original set's center axle pin had too much play in them and it caused a lot of movement, which caused all kinds of problems. The new ones don't have any play.

I did have to make some slight adjustment to the retainer clip to be sure the rod stayed locked open, but that is a very minor hand adjustment that was done once during install.

I ended up replacing the tailgate panel with SnailArmor4x4, and as a result I have more clearance on the sides, but I still kept the fat spacer on the bottom to give this swing more clearance.

Only drawback is the driver side does scrape the paint a bit on my 3rd Gen tailgate and the opening. It touches 3 places, the bent metal support of the tailgate, and the back and side walls as it bounces into position while closing. I think the stock plastic prevented the Gate King from touching the closer metal in the pic. Passenger side is clear. I tried taping off with electrical tape, but it scraped thru that. My first set of Gate King's didn't scrape the two spots I'm pointing at, but scraped the bluebtape area worse (this was before tailgate SnailArmor4x4 swap).

Tight squeeze for the Gate King arm.

All in all I really like them. I'll keep an eye on the scraping. It's only scuffs thru topcoat. Maybe the slotted hole play in the arms will break in some and it won't rub as much over time. The benefit is worth the drawback. I can touch up the paint every once in a while. It's been awesome for carrying my bicycles.

 

Wow…I just ordered this thing before reading this thread. I should of known better than to buy something without searching this forum first. Hopefully they’ve updated the product since these posts were made. If they haven’t, they’ll be going back.

There should be no need to adjust and maintain a $250, simple mechanism and it definitely shouldn’t be scraping paint off our trucks

I’ll post my findings in the next couple weeks when I get them in my hands.

 

I didn’t give an update to my second set. I ended up having the same problem again and they sent me a second replacement. I’ve got a brand new one if someone wants to buy it cheap from me.

 

That's not good. I take it you didn't bother installing the second replacement? Can I ask what month/year the second replacement was sent?

I'm tempted to just cancel my order.

 

My unused one was shipped Feb 2022. My last one lasted 6 months and worked really well, till it didn’t. Here’s my Marketplace listing for $120.

 

...Order cancelled. Totally unacceptable IMO. Gate King should give you a full refund, re-design their product, and then give everyone with scratched paint a free one as an apology.

Thanks so much for sharing your experience. I wonder if there's anyone out there who has been successfully using this on a Tacoma.

 

The scratched paint sucked, but that was the least of my problems.

I couldn’t get a refund, just replacements.

 

I made the mistake of ordering these products.

I found this thread right after ordering, like minutes later, and immediately emailed them to cancel my order citing that I had read about fitment issues. I got an email the following morning, confirming they got my cancellation email, asking for my phone number to discuss these fitment issues with them. I quickly replied with a link to this thread, which in my mind explained all of the fitment issues as far as I understood them.

I received them a few days later on a Friday, which was a surprise given that I canceled my order. I tried them on my truck and immediately was not happy with them. They didn’t fit and they were binding such that the only way I could open them, with my Diamondback cover, was to open it and hit the release with the included tool. I sent them an email letting them know that I would like to return them, and that I was surprised that they even showed up after I canceled my order. Their response was that they shipped them because they asked for my phone number to discuss and I didn’t provide my phone number so they shipped them but they would take them back.

I was told I would get an email with a shipping label. I’m fairly sure they sent it to the wrong email address the “first time” and I got it the second time. I sent them back using their shipping label in early December. I’ve sent them several emails and called and left voicemails a couple times trying to find out what is going on with my $228.28. I’m starting to feel like the paperboy from Better Off Dead, just trying to get my refund, which is fucking ridiculous.

 

That’s too bad you couldn’t get it to work. It’s a little tricky to get it set up, mostly just bending the little flap to be sure it pushes the spring arm all the way to lock open. I could have helped you out, I set up 2 of them. Mine worked great until the side plates started spinning. Sucks your having problems with the return. They’ve always been good with me, except they wouldn’t give a refund. Just replacements. They kept saying I will need to send back the old one, but they didn’t send me return shipping info, twice, even after following up. I still have the 2 broken ones for now. Good luck.