dig'umz

My bed is spread at the bottom and the tailgate barely stays on. Any easy fixes?

dig'umz

oops wrong forum

apache

Yep, not exactly falling off but getting there. The sides of my bed are moving outward it seems, Ive had to space the bed catches up top to get it to stay closed. Maybe a comealong will do the trick pulling it back together. Odd thing on mine I notice when the camper is on it which is perfectly flat for 4' feet across the rest of the bed sides about 12" on either side take a downhill curve. If you followed the curve and squared the sides to the floor then the tops of the bed would be about 6" wider than the bottom. Ram Tough? just dont make stuff like they used to.

gwhammy

My 97 bed has spread some. I pulled it back together and welded it along the bottom and added steel to it. It ain't great but it will do. It seems when they get up in the miles the poor old back of the bed can't take it. They just have a few spot welds to hold them together. The 01 I just bought is developing the same problem but not as bad yet. I'm going to look at welding up tubing and adding to the underside of the bed to keep the bottom from spreading .

dig'umz

thanks

NHDiesel

Luckily my bed hasn't spread yet, but my father's '97 has. The seam along the bottom passenger side of the bed rail opened up. I pulled it together and welded it back up and its been fine for over a year.

My tailgate fell off and got trashed because the &^**^% cables broke! The tailgate was in perfect condition, but while I was walking on it the cables broke, letting the tailgate drop (with all of my 280 lbs on it) onto the trailer hitch. Now the tailgaye is junk, with the latch handle broke from the impact with the hitch, and a big dent in the middle of it. $20 worth of cables cost me a perfectly good tailgate! At least GM has a recall on their cables that break...

Jim

BigBlue

I've got 87k miles on mine and after 4 years mine is still as tight as the day I got it. It's all in the bed liner.

99 cummins

Them darn cement liners again, and to think I just thought yall were kiddin about how well they worked. That's my next install.

dig'umz

nhdiesel, thats exactly were mine is spread. How did you pull it together?

Jeremy

NHDiesel

Hmmm, I hooked a come-along in there somehow...I think I hooked onto the tailgate hinge tabs somehow. I can't remember exactly, I tried a few different things until i found a way that worked. You just need to hold some pressure pulling the sides together, then weld it with the pressure on. Just be sure to clean out the seam with a wire wheel or grinder...his truck had some kind of filler in the seam. I think it was just seam sealer, but it would make welding a pain if it was still in there.

Jim

fschiola

Heck it's Friday. My tailgate always feels like it's falling off.... Oh, you mean on the truck. Never mind.

99 cummins

Mine has been going for a while but it's self inflicted from hauling round bales in it. The top rail is bent down and sides spread, I keep adding washers behind the latch so the tailgate will stay up. Spose I'l have to follow your leed on this and weld it one of these days.

Timmay2

Dont you wish that applies to more than just trucks.

yfz450guy

pull it back together with a come along and reinforce it.
yes it is seamsealer and you should putt some sort of sealer back in there when you are done.

BigBlue