Tailgate Re-Skin

[SactoJim]

As noted before in a previous post, my aftermarket tailgate fit like crap and really the only reason I ordered it was because the inside of my factory gate was too beat up to attempt to fix. I decided to take the inside skin of the aftermarket gate off and install it on the factory gate instead of going though the process of ordering new gates and hope they fit better.

Went pretty well with exception of having to use some half inch spacers inside the gate between the outside gate relief and the new inside skin. The factory gate is spot welded along the inside of that relief and for whatever reason there was a half inch of air between the factory outside and new inside skin.

Because I work for a body shop equipment supplier, I have access to some really great equipment including the $18,000 spot welder I used to put this thing together....holy crap, what a nice welder!! All I have left is to MIG the seam and I'll get the bodywork done on the last item I have to get ready for final paint.

Also included a couple pics of the bed back together with the stainless hardware.