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1/08/25: Trying to squeeze in as much body work as possible, I picked up my tailgate and started getting it ready for prime. I found a couple of cracks which needed to be welded up, a bunch of dings in both top and bottom rails and a few more from unsecured loads.

The tailgates from the factory have a bunch of spot welds so they are not smooth. I decided not to smooth over any of those welds, just take out the dents that didn’t belong. Since I was leaving the spot welds, I taped them over so avoid additional sanding.

I tacked the cracks, ground them out. I hammered and dollied out the dents I could and applied some Bondo. Due to the low temperature in my garage, I let it dry overnight.

Although the tailgate is small, there are two exposed sides so it’s allot bigger job than it seems. I’d get one side fairly straight and then other side needed to be reworked. Turns out in this case, the metal was stretched causing an oil can. I used my OA torch to resolve that issue. I decided the outside of the gate was more important to get straight than the inside, so that I what I concentrated on. During this whole process I was battling how far I wanted go straightening this tailgate. I had to keep myself in check otherwise I could have spent another two or three days.

The top roll of the tailgate, you can see in the photos, was dented in pretty good. I previously fixed the dent by cutting it like a flap, bending it out to straighten, then welded it back. I had used a straight piece of wood on the back of the roll to insure it was straight but after block sanding the Bondo and finding a big dip in it, I checked it with a 4 foot level and saw it still had a bit of a bend. I placed a block of wood on both ends of the tailgate on my grandfather old woodworkers bench (2-1/2” thick maple) and used a a big C clamp and take the bend out. I checked the bottom roll and that was not straight either. Interesting though, it was bent out. I suspect the tailgate was shut with something between the bed and the tailgate.

A couple of days later, I did a final sand out with 120 grit then applied three coats of prime. I think it turned out pretty good.