New guy--tailgate off center?

[J-No]

Hi,

I'm a novice to all of this. My 1978 K5's tailgate is off center. Seems to get worse the more I open/close it.

Right side will not line up to close, L side rubs when closing.

Thoughts?

PS-trying to add pics, but they come out too large. having issues resizing on my iphone.

 

[Bent77]

https://ck5.com/forums/ck5/the-test-lab.21/

Try here and see. I post from an iPhone and no worries over the size

 

[J-No]

 

[imiceman44]

View attachment 317476 View attachment 317477

It looks like the bedsides are twisted.
Can you get a picture of the bottom on both sides to see if the tailgate is lifting up on the right or not.
It does look higher on the right

 

[jimmyleetn]

What are your body mounts like? My 79' has some issues like your's although not as bad. If you have the OE mounts whether you go rubber or polyurethane, I would start there and replace them. If your tailpan is really rusty or any of the other body to frame mounts are rusty and sagging you may need to think about serious body work, but first the place to look and probably the easiest will be replacing the body mounts.

 

[J-No]

Thanks all. Not sure what you mean by body mounts, but I will look into it. It seems to get worse every time I open the tailgate. Now it will not come close to lining up on the R side. The the hinges seem solid, but the area around them is rusted away.

I think I am going to take it to a shop to see what I am looking at.

 

[jimmyleetn]

Over time the original rubber mounts/bushings where the frame is bolted to the body get old and dry, degrade, shrink, crack, etc. causing the body to sit lower on the frame and ride rougher. This also throws out much of what was squared when the truck rolled off the factory floor. Things like the tailgate and especially the doors will then be out of alignment. Things that further throw this out would be a very rusted tail pan in the case of your tailgate. See pics below. Don't matter how solid the hinges are if what they are bolted to is rusted and weak.

 

[J-No]

That is exactly it.

 

[ripple1973]

Hi,

I'm a novice to all of this. My 1978 K5's tailgate is off center. Seems to get worse the more I open/close it.

Right side will not line up to close, L side rubs when closing.

Thoughts?

PS-trying to add pics, but they come out too large. having issues resizing on my iphone.

Mine is lining up but on the passenger side tailgate is pops out alittle i just thought it was a stuck latch.

 

[J-No]

Have all the parts, waiting on some time to put the tail pan on.

 

[J-No]

asked in other thread