Ever Bent Your Truck's Tailgate?

[Wood Doctor]

... while loading on a few really big hardwood firewood billets? These can weigh upwards of 500 lb. You and your buddy (if he's around) might be able to help you get them to your truck's tailgate, but the tailgate may not be able to handle the load. Unfortunately, that's happened to me on several occasions. So, here is what I was looking at earlier this week:

And, here's another view looking to the back of the truck bed:

So, I talked to a body shop expert. He said, "Edwin, they don't make tailgates today any stronger than what you bought. You are an engineer, so make it stronger where it's bending." After thinking it over, I decided to take immediate action and strengthen the tailgate.

I figured only two main pieces were needed. First, a long length of 1-1/2" angle iron to butt against the back of the tailgate and control the bending. Second, a filler strip of 1/4" MDF about 4" wide and half as long to fill in the permanent dent and tuck underneath the bed liner. These two pieces would be screwed to the tailgate using four #12 sheet metal scews. Here are the results using identical "after" views:

The same as before, and looking towards the back of the truck bed:

I drilled 1/4" holes through the the angle iron and the MDF, equally spaced along the length. I painted both of the pieces flat black before assembly so that they would match the color of the bed liner. Then I drilled 11/64" holes in the tailgate to accept the #12 sheet metal screws. Assembly was a piece of cake.

Now I am ready to bring in some more big hardwood billets and I don't think I'll ever have to worry about another tailgate bend. And, one of these days my buddy might be around to help lift the big guys on board to haul to the log splitter.

So, guys, WDYT?

 

[IdahoPanhandle]

Looks good. Dont expect that MDF to last too long if it gets wet often though.


As for my tailgate..... I have a flatbed :greenchainsaw:

 

[Austin1]

I don't think I have ever owned a truck I did not bend the gate onExcept my camper only truck.

 

[Wood Doctor]

Idaho said, "Looks good. Dont expect that MDF to last too long if it gets wet often though."
------------
Agreed. But, it doesn't get wet very often. I store the truck in a garage, and Nebraska averages only 26" of rainfall a year. Note that I also painted it all with flat black enamel that's rather waterproof.

An alternative to the MDF is 3/16" plate steel or aluminum if you can find it, but I figured the MDF is lighter, and I can always make another one. It's dirt cheap compared to plate steel and surprisingly strong. In this case, I little bending flex doesn't hurt. The MDF is kind of a cushion. Note also that most of this dent filler plate is tucked underneath the bed liner and the tailgate is usually vertical, so it won't get wet.

 

[046]

yup... bent the cr*p out of my tailgate on 97 cummins 2500.

lucky me... found a craigslist deal. $75 for a brand new OEM tail gate from Dodge. even came with original trim. best of all it was white, matched perfectly without a repaint.

 

[Zackman1801]

our schools logging trucks tailgate is so bent that we had to weld on some steel and cover it with wood.

 

[Wood Doctor]

yup... bent the cr*p out of my tailgate on 97 cummins 2500. lucky me... found a craigslist deal. $75 for a brand new OEM tail gate from Dodge. even came with original trim. best of all it was white, matched perfectly without a repaint.

Well, I could have replaced it, but I trusted the body shop expert. He's seen so many bent tailgates on new pickup trucks that you have to believe him.

Here's my rationale. The outside surface of the tailgate (bottom when lowered) has no bend or dent at all. It''s as good as new. So, the idea is to strengthen the inside bend so it goes no further. On occasion when I hoisted a mammoth log on it, the log jammed against the truck bed edge when I tried to slide it on board. That is now history.

 

[boostnut]

Try not to take this the wrong way but to me it sounds like you never really bent your tailgate in the first place. It looks like you just dented the inner skin. The angle iron will help to distribute the load if you drop another heavy piece on it but sure won't save the tailgates life if something really heavy drops on it. If that angle starts to deflect I think those 4 little screws will just pull out of the sheet metal they're fastened to. Moral of the story, be careful how you load it, its a Ranger, not a 1 ton.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

I bent mine, or rather, my unpaid help did. (My boys.) Mine bent along the top edge to the point of the latches not working. Not loading it - that gets done with a grapple at the log yard. But unloading, well, the only way out is to roll them off the tailgate, and I think a few of them went closer to 800# than 500. Saw it happening, and started putting a small round under it for support, but it was too late. Once the bend started, it just kept getting worse.


I lived with that for a year, using a large screwdriver to work the latches. (Like using a credit card on a door lock.)

Finally straigtened it a few weeks ago, so I could get my topper door to close. (Need it on for a while.) Used a come-along, some wood blocks, and some stout angle iron to put some pressure in the right places. It's not pretty ,but it works now.

Still, it doesn't have the strength it should. I'm planning to use that 1 1/2" angle iron to strengthen that top edge. I've got a matching piece of flat iron for the other side. I figure to bolt them together, with the angle iron on the inside, the flat outside. I'll use carriage bolts and nylon locking nuts, with the carriage head on the inside.

Meanwhile, I keep looking for a replacement. Hard to find for a 14 year old Nissan!

 

[wdchuck]

Yes, pulling out 9'x2' oak logs, the first one out teetered on the tailegate and tacoed it. Pulled out the second differently, and no damage.
tacoed the tailgate enough so it'd just about fall into the bed.

called around, $145 for a brand new skin, just transfer the hardware.

It looks pretty good from the outside, and it works again now, but the top edge, when closed, resembles a knife edge more so than a bullnose shape.

Tinkering some more over time, it'll get better, spray on bedliner does not make it easy though.

 

[Wood Doctor]

Try not to take this the wrong way but to me it sounds like you never really bent your tailgate in the first place. It looks like you just dented the inner skin. The angle iron will help to distribute the load if you drop another heavy piece on it but sure won't save the tailgates life if something really heavy drops on it. If that angle starts to deflect I think those 4 little screws will just pull out of the sheet metal they're fastened to. Moral of the story, be careful how you load it, its a Ranger, not a 1 ton.

Thanks for the critique. That's one main reason why I posted this invention in the first place. :bringit:

The idea is that the angle iron will not deflect and bend much at all. The #12 (not little) screws are really only keeping the angle iron in place. The screws take practically no force whatsoever. If the angle iron does start to deflect under a heavy load, the tailgate skin will move with it. That's also why I added the MDF filler plate underneath the angle iron as part of the asembly to fill in what is already bent and to help distribute the load.

Also, I checked into the strength of the F150 and F250 tailgates. They are hardly stronger than the Ranger's, and their extra 4" width actually increases the possibility of the skin bending under heavy load. Perhaps what the truck/auto industry needs to offer is a heavy duty tailgate option, but to my knowledge, such an option is not available.

 

[Adkpk]

I don't think I have ever owned a truck I did not bend the gate onExcept my camper only truck.

That'd be me too. :bang: On mason dumps if you back up to a pile and the gate gets pushed under the truck it will hit the trailer hitch and the hydraulics will bend the gate with no problem.

 

[Wood Doctor]

... I'm planning to use that 1 1/2" angle iron to strengthen that top edge. I've got a matching piece of flat iron for the other side. I figure to bolt them together, with the angle iron on the inside, the flat outside. I'll use carriage bolts and nylon locking nuts, with the carriage head on the inside.

Meanwhile, I keep looking for a replacement. Hard to find for a 14 year old Nissan!

Interesting that your top (trailing) edge bent also. That seems to be stronger than the bottom edge on my truck and shows very little bend (see Pics).

I thought about bolts but I didn't want them in the way and catching on the cargo as I slid it along. Also, be careful of the clearance to the truck bed edge when you close the tailgate. If the bolts protude very much, they will bind on the close. My screw heads just make it. Remember that the fasteners just keep the steel frame pieces from moving around laterally. They will likely not take much force vertically.

 

[Austin1]

Them little Ford (Mazda's) are tough little buggers the early ones rusted like crazy though.

 

[Wood Doctor]

Them little Ford (Mazda's) are tough little buggers the early ones rusted like crazy though.

QFT. So did the Datsuns (Nissans). One of my friends nicknamed his '87 Datsun, "Freckles".

Mine (avatar) is a '97 with a "whopping" 34,500 miles on it. I told the dealer to add rustproofing and undercoating on it, and that seems to be working. I've threatened LOML sevearal times that I was going to replace the truck. She always laughs at me and says, "Are you nuts? With those racks on it and the 265 tires, you can pile as much wood in that Ranger as an F250. Keep your money in the bank."

She's right, of course, but it does tend to pant a little when I load her up with green oak, locust, ash, hackberry, and mulberry.

 

[LTREES]

Bought my F-150 5 years ago, it's a 2000', it came with a tailgate like yours, thought it was stock. It only had 27k on it with a female driver.

 

[Wood Doctor]

Bought my F-150 5 years ago, it's a 2000', it came with a tailgate like yours, thought it was stock. It only had 27k on it with a female driver.

Hmmm... I may have met her the other day. She and her daughter together weighed about 825.

Here's what really bent my tailgate in mid-June:

Don't ask me how I managed to get that whopper on board by myself. That's another story altogether.

 

[forestryworks]

Hmmm... I may have met her the other day. She and her daughter together weighed about 825.

Here's what really bent my tailgate in mid-June:

Don't ask me how I managed to get that whopper on board by myself. That's another story altogether.

good god man... now you gotta tell the story

 

[Wood Doctor]

good god man... now you gotta tell the story

I knew someone would ask, so here it is. That wood in the truck is all gingko, a fossil tree whose ancestors supposedly survived the ice age and dates back to the Jurassic period when dinosaurs feasted on it.

Imported from Asia in the mid-18th century, this exact tree was planted in 1875 in Omaha, Nerbraska. The tree is now at least 6 feet across at the base and nearly 90 feet tall. The picture shows a large round from the largest branch that was blown off the tree in a freak June storm. The branch alone weighed in at 16,000 lb, and I was called in to help clear it with my saws when others tried and failed. I used my Stihl MS 361 to cut the biggest portions into firewood length, about 22". Two careful passes were needed for each of the 8 rounds, because the diameter of the branch at its largest point was close to 3 feet.

Green Gingko wood is about the same density as soft maple. So, the round that you see here only weighed about 500 lb. Still, two men could not lift it to the tailgate, so I decided to use a special winch assembly that I had made for the racks on my Ranger. Rather than standard ramps, I also made rail ramps using oak to slide it up. Here's a Pic showing them:

So, I tied the ramps to the bumper, the log to the hitch with 1/2" nylon rope, and dragged it up with the winch. Once on the tailgate, I pushed it into the bed. Now I know this sounds easy, but please don't think that it was. Without the winch and the ramps, it would have been impossible. I'm not sure that even two men could have done it alone.

So now you all know how this monster made it into the bed of a Ford Ranger by one man working by himself. I would have taken a picture showing the log half way up the ramp, but I was a little busy at the time. Right?

 

[stihl sawing]

Yeah, it's bent a lot. You can tell by the puddle of water.