The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Tailgate chain/hook

Question? The 54 AD got a new stepside bed and tailgate (which pretty much stayed the same thru 1987). The tailgate chain hook end went from 5/16" diameter to 3/8" (unless somebody knows otherwise). Any of you guys ever had the 5/16" hook fail under load? What about the 3/8" hook? Was the 5/16" hook not adequate? Any thoughts?

The tail gate latch was redesigned in 1954 to provide a better "wedging" to diminish rattling. Maybe the larger diameter of the hook aided in this?

I've never seen any diameter tailgate chain hook fail, but I have seen the chain mounting bolt pull slap through a stake pocket from a load on the tailgate.

I don't think she had got all the way on the tailgate yet either.

Brad

O.K. Brad, that's causes me to envision a pretty scary picture!
Bob

So Uncle Brad, are you saying some load on the tailgate, like a sudden shock load, like dropping a pallet of bricks on the tailgate, could pull the tailgate chain 5/16 eyebolt thru the stake pocket!?!? Ouch!? And the hook wouldn't fail? Or the chain? I'm questioning if the hooked end might straighten out in such a situation. The whole setup seems so basic that it appears not much can fail, and I've seen some horribly mangled tailgates, yet the chain and hook prevail? I'm looking for the weakest link. Is it the stake pocket then?

Why are you worried about the maximum load a 70 year old truck
part can stand before failing???? Would you load down a 70 year
old guy with the same baggage that you would expect a 40 year
old to carry?
At 70, it's time to put that old half ton out to pasture.

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Denny, you make a good point....thanks for putting things into perspective; interesting analogy. It sounds like the 5/16" hook was good enough up thru 53, although GM did upgrade that hook starting in 54.

What I mean is the structural metal in the stake pocket will fail before the chain hook. Anything else is getting into super-overanalysis.

Edit - I don't know of any tailgate with a 'sudden shock from a full pallet of brick' rating.

Brad

The tail gate, hook, and latch (and pivot) were all changed in 1954, when the bed design changed. Chevrolet extolled the virtues of many aspects of the new design, but made no mention of the benefits from the bigger/stronger hook. I doubt that many hooks of either diameter failed.

Guys, thanks for the feedback. I'll just roll with it as it is....

Not sure if it will work yet, by I've put electrical shrink wrap on my chain hooks to help muffle rattles. I will find out if it works when the truck is drivable.

I can say from a dramatic experiment that an almost-assembled 327 Chevy engine will break a tailgate chain on a 65 Dodge pickup! I dumped a racing engine onto the ground just as I was getting ready to static-adjust the valves one Saturday. I had picked up a bare block from the machine shop and started building it right there on the tailgate, trying to get the engine assembled and installed in the race car before qualifying began at 6:00 PM that evening. We didn't make it to the race track that day!
Jerry

Ugh! See....I hate Dodge trucks! So Hotrod? Just what did break? A chain link? The hook straighten out? The slot in the tailgate? Just curious?

The chain was old and rusty, and a link broke. Once the first chain failed, the other one tore out of the bed a fraction of a second later. There was minimal damage to the engine, but it was enough to keep us from racing that night!
Jerry

Jerry, thanks for the update. Hope nobody got hurt.
Dave

Just my pride!
Jerry

That Dodge must have been parked too close to a Furd at one time, and caught a dose of the rust mites.
Carl