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Strength of tailgate?

truckguy82

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amxguy1970 Senior Enthusiast

amxguy1970

Posted
Posted

 

I hear ya. I always thought that way on the old trucks--have seen a lot of them WAY overloaded in oilfield and agriculture usage, beat on year after year with little to no maintenance. But on these new thin metal/plastic/aluminum trucks, well lets just say that some of the parts tend to bend or break a lot easier than they used to. Best wishes

 

Body parts yes, frames and drivetrains though have gotten stronger and more robust. I would put a new drivetrain up against an old one any day and it will come out on top in terms of toughness and longevity.

 

Tyler

rjpoog1989 Enthusiast

rjpoog1989

Posted
Posted

The strength of this Silverado tailgate compared to my 2nd Gen Dodge is night and day...I sat 2000 pounds on that Dodge tailgate without a hint of stress, this Silverado's tailgate flexes with my 275 pounds on it...

 

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I wouldn't put that much faith in a modern dodge. Our company truck is a 2012 ram 2500. The tailgate is so bent up it doesn't latch properly. I treat my truck with equal abuse and no sign of tailgate issues.

truckguy82 Senior Enthusiast

truckguy82

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Mine is flat...I've laid a straight edge across it for layout.

 

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You dont have cable slack ?

 

Mine has slack in the cables until I put weight on it

sdeeter19555 Senior Enthusiast

sdeeter19555

Posted
Posted

You dont have cable slack ?

 

Mine has slack in the cables until I put weight on it

Nope, cables are taught when open...I can watch the area around the cable attachments flex when I walk on the gate.

 

I'm actually surprised I haven't ripped one or both of those off yet...

 

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aseibel Senior Enthusiast

aseibel

Posted
Posted

Look at the gm bed closely when you open it, it's not level with the bed. It's definitely designed to flex until it's level. Probably makes it tougher as well, almost the same effect as using a pillow to absorb an impact

 

I don't think the tailgate can flex that much without buckling. The cables are tight on each corner and the center of the gate would need to bend over 1" to make it "level". I have done a lot of measuring and investigating, see the link I posted earlier.

 

Mine is flat...I've laid a straight edge across it for layout.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

 

Your prifile says you drive a 2012. From the checking i've done- all the trucks from 2014+ have this stupid raised gate. If you lay a long board in the truck, it is over 1" in the air over the crack between the bed and gate. again, See the photos in my other post, linked in post #2 in this thread.

2017SierraSLT Senior Enthusiast

2017SierraSLT

Posted
Posted

The tailgate on my 2017 does seem stronger than the one on my 2013. If I stood or sat on the 2013 gate, I could hear the tailgate handle bezel pop, probably due to flexing. I would have to snap the one corner back in place. The 2017 gate with the same or more weight has not made any wierd noises.

MaverickZ71 Senior Enthusiast

MaverickZ71

Posted
Posted

 

Body parts yes, frames and drivetrains though have gotten stronger and more robust. I would put a new drivetrain up against an old one any day and it will come out on top in terms of toughness and longevity.

 

Tyler

 

Yep. Old days=hell for stout bodies/beds and weak small blocks. We had a couple of Chevy one-ton dually flatbeds with gin poles out in the oilfield in the early 80's with 350 4bbls and 4 speed manuals. Amazing how much we hauled and towed with those things. Everybody fought over who got to drive the '78 one with a 454 and 4.11 gears in it. Now a smaller V6 has more power than those old trucks did. Today, we have strong motors and pop-can bodies and beds. There ought to be some kind of happy medium. My truck got waves in the tops of the bed rails when it was new, when a couple of light ladies sat on them to watch 4th of July fireworks--I couldn't frakkin believe it. I hope the new frames are tough--they should be--the trucks weigh about 1000 lbs more than they used to, and that's with aluminum engines.

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