The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot '60-'66 Trucks Tailgate removal on a '61

So, I thought I had a brilliant idea to remove the tailgate and have that sandblasted/media blasted instead of trying to sand it. Seemed like a better choice. ... Until I tried to remove the tailgate. ... Uhhhh, there's a trick to this right?

The bolt on the driver's side snapped in half flush with the bed frame. The passenger side just spins inside. I tried to stick a screwdriver in a little groove on that side to keep it from spinning, but it didn't work.

I checked the manual, and it really didn't cover removing the tailgate. The pic shows two bolts holding on a mounting plate on the inside of the bed frame, but mine doesn't have any.

Thanks for any ideas and/or help.

P.S. Sure wish the old tailgates just lifted off like the newer ones. Just saying....

I sprayed kroil on the bolts and will let it sit until this afternoon. I also have a heat gun to try out on it....

I'm mainly wondering if I've missed some sort of pin, or locking device on it. Gotta be a trick to this.

Yep... and here's the trick:

The part that is spinning, the trunnion, has a slot on the outside of it. With the tail gate closed you will see a hole in the bottom of the tailgate that lines up with the trunnion slot. Again, with the tailgate closed, stick a scewdriver in the hole in the tail gate, and into the slot in the trunnion. This will prevent the trunnion from rotating while you remove the bolt.

That's how it worked on my '65. Of course mine is a high plains Colorado truck, where it's dry.. not much rust here.

Hope that helps.

and P.S. when you've got it off and are fixing it up you can cut away the bottom of the 'cup' on one side of the gate just enough so when it's in the full open position it will pull off the trunnion and then move sideways to come off the other trunnion ... so it can be removed like the newer ones

Bill