My new POS tailgate

[Ron]

I paid $300 for a new plain tailgate. Cost $100 for shipping, $150 to paint. I put it on today and found the quality and fit extreamly poor. I had to weld in a shim to the left hinge socket to take up some slop. With the tailgate closed it sticks out about 1/2" near the left tail light. This is a high buck project, I'm ticked.

[wibilly]

sorry to hear about your tailgate i was thinking about going that route because i can't find a decent one around here but i guess ill wait or try to build somthing cool if i don't find one before it's time to lay paint thanks for the heads up

[OJOE]

what did you put the gate on? and i guess it was a after market. some of these fit good and some are junk. best to always pre fit. lol

[Ron]

Originally Posted by OJOE

what did you put the gate on? and i guess it was a after market. some of these fit good and some are junk. best to always pre fit. lol

The tailgate went on a 67 LWB. Due to the retarded way this project went together prefitting was not an option. One would think that sheetmetal licensed by GM would fit. This is a killer project..except for the tailgate! It does look good with the gate down though.

[krue]

That sux, who made the tailgate?

[Ron]

Originally Posted by krue

That sux, who made the tailgate?

Goodmark. Their probably the only one overseas co. making them so no matter where you get them they come from the same place. I have a shop and equipment, I feel for the guy that tries installing one of these in his drive way.

[ol yellow 72]

i bought one of the tailgates from lmc the smooth one and love the way it fit, looks just like the original.

[71swb4x4]

I bought a smooth one from a board vendor and I also was very pleased.

[cypress TX 72]

Wilbilly,
I have an OEM with the band instead of the letters, Probably going to sell soon, Its in very good shape..
I had the letter one painted with my truck, but wanted to put the band on, I am trying to figure a way to convert, but not perminate, some times letters sometimes band.. I am close to getting it, so as soon as I am positive I will post the gate

[chuck1960]

I bought a complete bed kit & was very dissapointed with quality. Had to work tailgate & rear bed posts to make look decent. Nothing lined up. The parts were goodmark, I've used a couple of cowl hoods from them & was very pleased. Maybe it was just a bad run of parts.

[Bob B.]

Sorry to hear you had problems with it. Funny thing is that if you go to Goodmark's website, the smooth tailgate is about $100 cheaper than the Chevrolet or GMC stamped tailgates. The smooth one isn't noted as being 'G.M. Restoration Parts' either. Wonder if there's a difference.

[nu2-72]

I would think that "restoration" parts would be a duplicate. It can't say "restoration" without the lettering as GM did not make them that way.

[chevybill]

Ron, sorry to hear about your bad luck. Call Ed at mothertruckers in bradenton florida. He sells dynacorn- the best there is available.
www.mothertruckers.net on the web

[49studebaker]

Below is a quote from Goodmark, I asked them the same question. By the way, I installed a plain tailgate from LMC on my sons 91 S-10 and it fit great. We actually checked for fit first, because we needed it in place to weld in a roll pan.

"GM Restoration Parts are parts that GM no longer offers for service but are aftermarket replacements that meet GM’s standards for fit and appearance. Our parts are mostly made overseas, as there are very few manufacturers here in the USA for these restoration parts."

[wink_tim]

What about Mar-K? Does any one know if their gates are made overseas? I was considering ordering one but I may just try to find a used factory gate instead.

[72afr]

I hear ya! I bought a new tailgate for my stepside, and it didnt want to close. We actually wound up grinding out one of the latch holes to get it to close. Gotta love it

72afr

[Ron]

I think they're all made overseas, probably by the same co. I got mine from ECE but it came in a Goodmark box. As with most overseas parts, there is zero quality control.

[wibilly]

cypress would be interested in the gate but i think shipping would kill the deal thanks

[67ChevyRedneck]

Did you use any other "goodmark" parts on the truck? How did they fit? I'm thinking about getting some front fenders from them, but now I'm skeered too

[FRENCHBLUE72]

I think I may hold on to my 2 orignals they need some work but I have heard some horror stories of people sitting on the repros and bending them...

[Deuce]

classicchev has a GOODMARK door and the fit is quite poor.

[67Fleet]

I'm sure some of you have heard of my nightmare with the repop gate I got. The thing is a total piece of garbage. My only saving grace is that I didn't pay full price for it new. Got from a board member. One of the tack welds broke on the left side of it causing the metal to bow out about a 1/2" from the bedside, it arrived with 5 or 6 dents in it, and the metal is about as thin as a soda can. I'd rather pay twice the price for an original and have to do minor bodywork than deal with that mess again. I might as well of took $150 out of my wallet and set it on fire.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Originally Posted by Deuce

classicchev has a GOODMARK door and the fit is quite poor.

The original fit was also "quite poor" as well. Are we talking even worse fit than original? Are the panels shorter/wider than original? Are the shapes wrong? Bolt holes in the wrong place? I'm VERY curious.

[MAR-Ktech]

Originally Posted by wink_tim

What about Mar-K? Does any one know if their gates are made overseas? I was considering ordering one but I may just try to find a used factory gate instead.

Mar-K does not manufacture the fleetside tailgates. We purchased them from an importer. I expect we will not continue to carry that tailgate because of quality problems we were having. There may be a few left in stock but trying to cherry pick the good ones was not worth the trouble. We were not buying Dynacorn, and Mothertruckers may have good results with them. Contact the board vendors for their specific quality experience with their product.

To my knowledge there is no USA manufacturer of the fleetside tailgate.

Even with the "GM Restoration parts" the quality is sometimes marginal. With the smooth no-name tailgate there is no standard of quality and you are on your own. Inspect the product before you buy and test fit to your truck.

Mar-Ktech

[wink_tim]

Thank You Mar-ktech, I appreciate your honesty. You guys should strongly consider manufacturing these gates, I think once the word got out about a quality repop they would sell like hot cakes.