Tailgate Seal

I had been looking for a couple weeks for a good tailgate seal remedy and didn't really find anything that I liked the looks of. I bought a 2001 Double Cab about a month ago with a Snugtop on it and was getting tired of the dust in it. I'm a farmer From Nebraska and travel gravel daily. So here's what I came up with. I took 2 pieces of 1/4x2.5 inch wide strap iron and bolted it to the deflector piece in front of the tailgate jamb. I then used some weather stripping we had around from the rear window on our 8530 John Deere Tractor. It clamps on the strap iron like a glove. So far it seems to be working quite well, although it definitely makes closing the tailgate a little tight but to me is well with it if it keeps the dust out. On the bottom of the tailgate I put some half inch wide foam tape from Ace Hardware. So far everything seems to be sealed up quite well, if anyone would be interested in seeing more pictures or me making them a kit I could definitely do so.

 

So what I'm seeing here, is that with a little more R&D, we could use this as the basis for a truck bed hot tub mod?

 

I think you're on to something, cali.

 

Haha never thought of that

 

Nice!
I hit up dusty roads fairly often. The only thing I've found that works 100% at keeping dust out is I did what you did and I put a 20 inch bicycle inner tube between the rear cab window and the camper shell's window and inflated it enough to create a seal. Then with the rear cab windows and the shell windows open and the trucks front windows all closed I run the HVAC fan with AC or heat or neither. This creates positive pressure in the camper shell pushing the dust out.

The big downside to this is that if you have elevation changes the inner tube will inflate and deflate with the pressure change. I had one trip where I inflated the tube at 9,000 feet and drove around for a couple days. I forgot it was there and drove home back to sea level. By the time I got home it had deflated enough that it fell down between the bed and the cab and vanished. I'm going to try it with a pool noodle which won't expand and contract.

Also I like to wheel with my windows down so that part kinda sucks.

 

They make tailgate seals - cheaply.

I drove through the dirt roads of North Dakota without any dust. Why reinvent the wheel when simple solutions are available?

 

Don't tell us where to look for them, it'll spoil the fun!!

 

Sorry buddy - thought this was common knowledge!

http://www.extrudedsolutions.com/

D

 

I don't have good luck with adhesives sticking permanently, my set up isn't going anywhere

 

And this cost me $0.....