'71 J-Truck Tailgate Install

[Jacksons Hole]

Another seemingly simple task gets the best of me...

My truck came with a pretty awful tailgate that wasn't attached, so I bought a replacement. Since I'm not going to do any body work for a long time (engine and interior first), and since the donor tailgate is exactly the same color as the truck.

The tailgate is one piece with a lot of dirt and rust inside the lower tube. The truck has 3 round hinges on bottom (L-center-R) and 2 chains on the bed in decent shape. But that's where the parts end.

The tailgate lines up fine, but I know I'm missing some parts, I just don't know what. Is there a tube that runs through the bottom of the tailgate and the hinges? Is there any other form of latching mechanism other than the chains? Is there anything other than the chains that hold the tailgate at 90*? Is that enough questions for now? I wish the TSM would help out with this one....or a search, since every tailgate post has a window issue. I wish Jeeps made the Waggy windows better so my searching could be easier...

Hopefully all parts can be found at hardware stores because I want to be at least semi productive this wkd, and the engine isn't going anywhere just yet.

[Jacksons Hole]

Has anyone installed a tailgate on a early 70s J-Truck?

[KaiserMan]

I just robbed this off the internet. It's for a GM but more or less the same as what our Gladiators have.



The bar bolts to the bed (you can just make out the special bolt in the center of the pic) and swivels. Once the gate is closed you move it over and onto the latch tab on the tailgate. Via the bolt, you can adjust the bar in and out, changing the amount of pressure the bar places on the gate. Holding it closed and rattle free. You put the hook on the end of the chain through the hole in the latch tab after the bar is in place. Since the bar wants to pop off the hook holds it in place, and the pressure the bar puts on the hook in turn holds it in place.

The lower hinges are two pieces of round stock welded onto two pieces of strap that have beveled holes drilled in them (the strap). They bolt to the bed with two flat head screws. You have to place them in the tailgate, fit the tailgate to the bed then bolt them down. The center hinge is held to the bed with a carriage bolt.

Unfortunately the only things you can get at the hardware store are the flt head bolts and the carriage bolt.

[Jacksons Hole]

Figured it out. As usual, there was a simple answer. The center latch was still attached to the bed, so there were two of them (one on tailgate, one on bed). I removed the one from the bed, and the tailgate still didn't fit 100%. I unscrewed the drivers side "hinge," put it in the tailgate, lined it up...and I now have a tailgate on the truck!

Tailgate that came with the truck (obviously disconnected due to the missing lower tube):


Tailgate I picked up this summer in Rochester, MN off of this site (thanks!! - but it's been so long I forget who I got it off of!). Looks like the original - color match and all. When I finally get around to body work (last step), it'll look perfect:

[KaiserMan]

Good deal on the color match. I think it looks great as is!

It's even off another 72!

[Jacksons Hole]

Funny thing is, for the first 6mos of owning this I thought it was a '72 (not sure why - title says 1971, VIN identifies it as '71, hell even the tag on the drivers side wheel well says '71 - but I think the PO may have said '72 on the phone with me and it stuck).

It's a '71 (and appears the tailgate may be too...but it could be '72 like you said). I just hope my '72 TSM doesn't lead me down an irreversibly bad path....or Tom Collins' '72 wiring diagrams, because the more and more I look at my wiring, the more I think it needs to be 100% replaced...


Thanks for the help!!