tailgate repair

[tinlizzy]

I have a short side 48 pilothouse and the tailgate has some cancer right in the lower center where bracket or brace is mounted.  Any suggestions on how I go about making repairs to this?  Area metal workers not interested and a new one is out of reach. thanks Lee

[tinlizzy]

I have a short side 48 pilothouse and the tailgate has some cancer right in the lower center where bracket or brace is mounted.  Any suggestions on how I go about making repairs to this?  Area metal workers not interested and a new one is out of reach. thanks Lee

[Plymouthy Adams]

kind of hard to advise on any form of attack to this repair without a picture.....from all angles and you did not state you welding equipment and abilities....for a shop not to mess with it does not mean anything except that they are in for the quick fix full panel no rust issues of collision repair.

Edited July 5, 2019 by Plymouthy Adams

[Radarsonwheels]

So do you have a welder? You just have to make a patch panel, stick it over the bad part, scribe the line, cut out the cancer back to good metal that now will perfectly fit your patch, and weld it in with a series of small tacks.

 

The hard part is having patience. You can only grind or weld so much before the heat starts pulling and warping things as it cools and shrinks smaller than it started. 

 

Good luck and ask more questions if you need to!

[Radarsonwheels]

And it matters how you want your repair to look and work after it’s done. Do you need to throw a board on there and drive a dirtbike up into the bed using the tailgate hung from the chains to bear weight? Or just don’t want it to get worse? Is it a farm truck/ working truck? Or a restoration candidate?

[tinlizzy]

I guess I didn't make my self clear.  The area of concern is the tube that the tailgate hinges on.  There is a bracket support in the center of the gate and where the tube rests in the center this is where it is rusted through.  Metal workers in my area can't roll that the small diameter of the tube.  I do have a mig and set of torches.  I found a pc of stainless the same size but don't know if I can weld it to the sheet metal tube of the gate.  any help appreciated.

[Radarsonwheels]

You can mig weld mild steel to stainless it will just alloy and could lose some strength. You’re on the right track splicing in a bit of tubing.

[Dave72dt]

Mig or torches, either will work for welding in a repair section.  Find a section of pipe the same diameter, cut the bad section out and weld in the new.  I think the last one I did I used a section of 1 1/2"exhaust pipe, split it lengthwise since it was too large diameter, tacked it into position and then pulled the cut gap closed and welded that up, ground, bodyworked and painted.  You could also shove a solid rod or smaller tube into the tailgate, plug weld that in, cut a strip of light gauge metal and wrap it around, weld, grind and finish.

 

Mine has both top and bottom section rusted badly plus a twist in the main section from being used with only one chain.  Rough life having served as a shop truck for a service station for many years, then several years hauling feed for a farm.

[DJ194950]

First thought is to cut piece out and replace.

Any spot welds/rivets involved??

 

dj

Edited July 6, 2019 by DJ194950
spelling

[Plymouthy Adams]

why a second thread same subject.....you should keep this all together as folks have already advised on the other thread......

[tinlizzy]

looks like my post has been posted double, sorry about that but how do you delete the second posting?

 

[Plymouthy Adams]

use the report post on the upper right of the thread entry left of the post count number.......ask a moderator to please join the two threads together or delete the one with fewer replies...

[nkeiser]

I had a donor tailgate that also had a bad lower tube. I tried hammering a support tube through, but was unsuccessful. I ended up buying a piece of 1.25" steel tubing to replace the existing rolled piece. I also had to widen it out to fit the wide bed. It was easiest to make a blank tailgate then weld the dodge part to it.

[Dave72dt]

Where did you find 1 1/4 tubing?   The smallest diameter exhaust tubing I could find was 1 1/2.

[nkeiser]

6 hours ago, Dave72dt said:

Where did you find 1 1/4 tubing?   The smallest diameter exhaust tubing I could find was 1 1/2.

The local steel supply place had it. It's not exhaust tubing. It's standard low carbon steel tubing.