The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Tailgate - 1947 - 1953 fit a 1942 box?

Will a tailgate from 47 to 53 fit a 42 box?

hmmm....good question, let me check around and see.

No.

The '41 thru '46 box is a little more narrow, but you can pull the ends off, trim each side down, and weld the ends back on and it looks pretty good.

That's what I did with my 46 1/2 ton.

[img]http://oldtruckstuff.com/mytrucks/rear_wood_on.gif[/img]

Well.. had my brother in law welder guy do it for me, anyway.

Thanks for the quick response. Your tailgate looks good.

Thanks.

When I got that truck, the original tailgate looked like hell.. but i'd seen several '41 thru '46 1/2 ton trucks with the later '47 thru '53 tailgates on 'em, so I figured they outta fit.

So I pulled one off one of my parts trucks, and lo and behold, it was too wide.

Then I got to looking at some of the '41 thru '46 trucks i'd seen with the 'AD' tailgate and saw that most of them had not only the AD tailgate on 'em, but also the AD BED.

I'm not sure what all is involved in that, but i've seen several 'Deco' trucks with 'Advance Design' beds and rear fenders on 'em. I guess they must be easier to find.. but they don't look bad, and at a casual glance, I doubt most folks would even notice.

wow, that does look nice. I wasnt finding much in my search anyway.

I'm pretty sure all the 'factory' tailgates on the '41 thru '46 pickups were either blank, or had some strange looking script style Chevrolet written across the back.

I personally like the way the '47 thru '53 tailgate looks on the back of a 'deco' truck, and at the same time it doesn't stick out like a sore thumb to anyone but the most anal retentive purist who would be quick to point out, "That ain't the right tailgate on that truck!!"

John Deere Green probably wasn't a 'factory' color in 1946, either.. nor was putting the paint on with a brush.