Tri-Plus Tailgate Impressions

[AcampoDave]

I bought it from Summit and It seems to be as heavy as the original. It was well packaged and came through the delivery process unscathed. I took the first pic after wetsanding down the EDP primer with 400 grit and as you can see there aren't really too many highs and lows except around the lettering which is likely due to the stamping process. That primer did not wipe off with acetone so I supposed it to be the good stuff. Therefore, that's about as much sanding as it's gonna get.

[AcampoDave]

In this pic you can see that the rolled areas do exhibit some machine marks, but since this truck is a "six footer" those don't bother me. They are worse on the top roll which is obscured from the view of anyone standing up anyhow.

[AcampoDave]

Heres the lower rolled area which people do notice but since I dont care that much it's gonna get primered and painted as is. They will likely fill a bit with my primer and a quick re-sand anyhow. All things considered I'm a happy customer, and for only 9 bucks shipping Summit is hard to beat.

[The Rocknrod]

Nice, looks great to me.
I went to the Truck Shop in Orange when I was working in the area a while back and picked one up. Didn't open it up at the store, got home - it was dented. Drove back (from Ontario, CA) and they replaced it (after giving me some crap about it).

[AcampoDave]

Giving you crap about it is like saying, "You should have shopped at Summit".

[AcampoDave]

Now that it's been decked out in my primer, I can see a few of the spotwelds look like bird droppings. I will probably have to address those.

[Steveoreno]

Nicely done, thanks for sharing!

[roll_the_dice]

I love the reviews on here...real world reviews with pictures from people I trust. Thanks for sharing Dave!

[AcampoDave]

Glad you guys like the review. I just painted it today and I honestly haven't even tried it on the truck yet so I guess i still got at least one more post to make about it's fittment. That might take a few days as finding a helping hand is rare around here.

[kalirodding]

Let me know if you need a hand Dave, I’m always free after work.

[AcampoDave]

Well, it's done. A big thanks to Kalirodding for helping me put it on, and we both had to agree that it fits pretty dang well. Thanks for reading

[The Rocknrod]

Nice work. Glad it fit well.

[joesscamaro]

Looks good! It's hard to tell from the picture, but how does the backside of the tailgate line up with the bedside? Does it sit flush? Hope that makes sense. I ordered all new bedsides and tailgate for my truck but the tailgate doesn't sit flush with the bedside. I think it's more of an issue with the stake pocket on the bed than the tailgate though. Just curious.

[AcampoDave]

It just happened to sit flush, but if it didn't I would have tried to raise, lower or otherwise move the trunions. Can you do that on yours?

[joesscamaro]

They have a little bit of adjustment to them, but not much. On the bottom half of the tailgate, it sits flush. It's just on the top half that it protrudes past the bedside a little bit. I've messed with it and got it looking better but I was just curious as to how yours looked.

[AcampoDave]

Originally Posted by joesscamaro

They have a little bit of adjustment to them, but not much. On the bottom half of the tailgate, it sits flush. It's just on the top half that it protrudes past the bedside a little bit. I've messed with it and got it looking better but I was just curious as to how yours looked.

Today I had a chance to really look at it while seated at a car show. You're right mine does too. Just below the chains on both sides even though it's adjusted to fully close. Not too bad though.

[joesscamaro]

Yeah, yours isn’t bad. It’s something that would go unnoticed by most everyone anyways.

[AcampoDave]

So, time has revealed a small problem with the new tailgate. The chain eyelets are lacking the interior spot welds of the OEM tailgates. I had to do a little modification to keep them from rocking in toward the truck when weight was placed on the chains with the gate down. Here's a borrowed pic of an OEM with the spotwelded eyelet. They don't rock around. Mine however, sure did. My solution to the problem was to extend the lower portion by butt welding a tab to it and drilling it to match the second hole which seems to work fine. Edit: I tried to post a pic of the solution but I kept getting the "missing security token" warning from the site. (What the heck is a security token anyhow?)

[AcampoDave]

Got it

[Chevy Fleetside]

Yeah I found them. https://www.summitracing.com/search/...del/c10-pickup

[dracko]

That’s a good idea to weld that extra tab on there. I didn’t realize the flaw until after I sat on the tailgate at a show. I REALLY noticed it when I went to put the tailgate up and they didn’t hit the holes. BANG! �� . Needless to say I’ll be doing the same with my Counterpart tailgate in the next couple days. Very strange that they would make them with 2 threaded holes but provide a tab to utilize only 1. ��

Otherwise, I was surprised at how nice these repop tailgates are and they fit pretty good too. This one does stick out a bit on the PS but I can’t confirm if it’s the tailgate or the repop bedside. Regardless, I’m not losing any sleep over it.

[The Rocknrod]

Originally Posted by AcampoDave

... I tried to post a pic of the solution but I kept getting the "missing security token" warning from the site. (What the heck is a security token anyhow?)

File is too large, try using paint and make it 75 or 50%. I get the same thing and that seems to fix it. So I changed it in my phone camera, now it doesn't do it.

[AcampoDave]

Rocknrod, thanks I'll check that. But perhaps I would feel more secure if I only had that mysterious token

Dracko, that bit about sitting on it at a show and...bang! That's exactly what happened to me.