Tailgate Assist-Pics please

[4x4dreamer]

My tailgate assist torsion bars or whatever they are, are not working right. Does anybody have a pic of what they are supposed to look like with the tailgate open? When I open my Tailgate, it goes about 2/3rds of the way down, then meets with resistance, then a loud BANG as they get past where they are catching. Closing yields similar results. I notice at the ends of the bars, where they loop back toward the center of the truck, there are holes for them to go in to, but mine don't. I can try to post pics if that will help. Please let me know.

 

[CooknwithGas]

I recently rebuilt my tailgate with a new shell. I had the same problem. The torsion bars are bolted inside the tailgate. The lower section of each bar hooks on a thing on the frame. If you remove the panel and roll the window up a little ways, you can see these clamps that are supposed to hold the bars. The bolts are on the outside of the tailgate on each side near the bottom. If the clamp piece is off, you will have to reach your hand in there to hold it while turning the bolts.

The LMC catalog has a pretty good exploded view of the tailgate parts. They will send you a free catalog from their website - lmctruck.com.

I have some pictures and I'll look through them this evening to see if I have what you are looking for.

 

[4x4dreamer]

I appreciate that a lot.

on a side note, my wife borrowed the truck again today, she really hates it Ever since that time she got called a redneck A$$hole at Walmart...She also says something about it stinking and being noisy...anybody with a diesel notice any smells or noises?? LOL

 

[CooknwithGas]

My 8-yr old says the same thing about mine, but it's not a diesel! Oh, but she likes the fact that she can see the ground while we are driving.

 

[CooknwithGas]

I found a few pictures and put them together in one file. It shows one of the repairs I had to make on the winder mechanism. I suspect a normal person would have trashed the part and paid lots of $$ to LMC for a new crank mechanism, but I'm stubborn and decided to fix mine. It works great now. I also had to do some other welding on other parts that are not in the picture. The purple tailgate is one of the donor tailgates. I ended up buying a new crank handle. Take a look:

http://www.cooknwithgas.com/Tailgaterepair.jpg

If you look at the donor tailgate on the bottom right side there is a black part laying there. If I remember correctly, that is the clamp you need to stop that torsion bar from popping. I had removed that part and sandblasted and painted it before installing it in the new tailgate.

 

[4x4dreamer]

Cool!! Thanks