Started another project today, the tailgate! I mentioned previously that I would like to put on an "AM General" embossed tailgate. My truck is registered as an AM General pickup. Here's the story that goes with it.
I found one on FB and the seller sent me pictures (he had a couple). It had a few problems but he had another one that he said was in better condition and sent more pictures. It did look better in the pictures and asked if it was all good, straight, no extra holes etc. He said yes and I bought it. Total cost with shipping was a little over $400. I didn't think that was unreasonable based on others I had seen. He packed it and shipped it quickly but it came from the other side of the country so it took over a week to get here.
I opened the box and as soon as I set it on the floor I could tell is was tweaked. I started checking it and it is twisted about 1.5 inches end to end. After looking closer I could see the hinge was bent a little and where the hinges attached were also bent in. Beside the twist there is also a bow in it. Basically this tailgate is unusable as it sits. If I tried to mount it, it would not close. I contacted the seller, albeit a little pissed off since it was so clearly damaged to me.
Ultimately he refunded $200 of the price and though I would likely have passed had I known about the damage I found that to be an acceptable compromise. This however leaves me needing to fix the tailgate if I am going to use it and that is what I chose to do.
The tailgate is basically made up of a few parts. There is the top, center section, 2 end fillers/caps and 2 hinges. The top has to come off first. One side has tapered rivets with aluminum body and steel mandrel, this is important to know for reassembly. The rivets mandrel breaks flush with the top of the taper and to remove them I found using a small punch and hammer to drive the mandrel out first then a 3/16 drill to pop the taper out the easiest way. Then a slightly larger punch to drive the rivet body through. In some instances I had to use a 1/8" drill to take the top 1/32" off the mandrel to punch it through.
After I had all the rivets out of the top bar I used a large dead blow to get it off the center section. Then continued removing rivets down both side until the end fillers were removed. The hinges were next. They are Steel/Steel rivets, steel body and steel mandrel. I found the easiest way to remove them was to cut the top off first and then the mandrel could be punched out. Then drill the head until it popped off and punch the rest out.