70s tailgate on 80s bed issue fitting

[doughby82]

I belive the tailgate I have is 77-79. round bottom. Chevrolet script in middle and factory bans with trim on top and bottom of bans. the bed is an 86. . I replace the trunions to 70s. it fit a lot better but it get 2 or 3 inches from closing. it appears the arms are hitting tailgate or on bed. not sure how to fix this. I also remove the anti rattle clips from bed thinking that was the problem

[Dead Parrot]

You need to transplant all the mounting hardware not just the trunions. The bedsides are compatible for the 73-87 run but there are several styles of latches, anti rattle clips and support bars. The different years of latches etc don't play well between the various years.

I replaced the tailgate on my 75 with one from the mid to late 80s and it works fine. I did get all of the mounting hardware from the donor truck.

[cadillac_al]

Does the 77 tail gate have prongs sticking out? I think I had to cut some holes for those when I put a newer bed on my truck.

[blazer2007]

I noticed when I put a 84 tailgate on my 80,s that the 84 is not as long compared to my 80,s tailgate. Don,t know if that has anything to do with it.

[doughby82]

Originally Posted by cadillac_al

Does the 77 tail gate have prongs sticking out? I think I had to cut some holes for those when I put a newer bed on my truck.

yes it does but gate doesn't get that close

[Dead Parrot]

Here are a few pic of the latch and mount on my 75 with the 80's era tailgate. The rectangular hole is where the prongs on the 75 tailgate fit. The ones on the 80's tailgate are part of the latch. IIRC the small hole under the rectangular hole is where the 75 rubber bumper fit. I think that is also where the 80 bumper also fits but I think the 75 was a press fit while the 80's is held in place with a screw.

I did look on my 84 CUCV and it does not have the rectangular holes so that will something to fix once you get the gate to close that far assuming your 77 gate has matching prongs. The 80's prongs fit on the other side of the latch catch.

[doughby82]

I swapped the latches from the 77 onto the 80s bed. I noticed that on my other trucks the tailgate arms as they fold the pivot point on the arms pivots to the back of truck right before it closes. on this one the arms kinda bend outward towards the side of bed. do I need to swap the tailgate to 80s latches or 70s

[cadillac_al]

You shouldn't have to swap latches. When I put a newer bed on my truck I just cut a couple holes in the box for the prongs and cut a notch in the round part of the hinge to slip over that oval shaped hinge mount. That's it. It's hard to figure why yours won't close.

[Dead Parrot]

It should work if the latch year matches the tailgate. Might post up some pics so we can see what it looks like.

Notice how the arms on mine have a small double bend close to the tailgate latch? Do yours? If a PO on the donor truck flattened them for some reason might explain your issue. This assumes the 77 arms are supposed to have that double bend.

[doughby82]

I wish I knew how to post pics...but I did figure out it has to be the arms either not long enough or too short not sure... I removed the arms from the tailgate and it will close right upto where I need to cut for the prongs to go into bed

[KrazyRay]

There are 2 different length arms. I believe 73-76/77 arms are 1" shorter than the later years.