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Thread: Dang tailgate drops open!
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bliffle
Revvin Up
Posts: 95
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posted August 01, 2004 09:38 PM |
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Dang tailgate drops open!
The tailgate on my 74 pops open and drops down every couple days. Makes a racket and sometimes something falls out! Anybody got a cure for this?
Also, those darn tiedown pegs don't hold very good.
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Jeff20B
Moderator
Posts: 661
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posted August 01, 2004 10:26 PM |
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Tiedown pegs? You mean the bed hooks or whatever they're called around the upper edge? They work great! They're one of the best features of an REPU. Newer trucks suck in that regard.
My tailgate drops down sometimes. A quick fix is to slightly tweak the little 90º tabs on the bed.
____________
'74 REPU
'76 Cosmo
'77 MG Midget 13B
'81 RX-7
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klaus43
Rotorhead
Posts: 1259
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posted August 02, 2004 06:28 AM |
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I just got to meet Roaddancer in person...
...and he was telling me of a similar issue on his REPU... Seems things loosen up a bit over 30-odd years!
I've never had this problem, but then again, my 'driver's' tailgate isn't 100% straight, either...
Is there anything that can't be cured by a careful dis-and-reassembly, with judicious 'tweaking' of key components?
Perhaps a bungee net would be helpful as well? I know, no matter how good you tie anything down, it's no match for the lateral G's encountered during 'spirited' driving...
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roaddancer
Hauling
Posts: 127
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posted August 02, 2004 03:58 PM |
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On my 74 I slightly bent the rods that go over the hook, to make them draw the sides in more. That stopped it. Haven't looked into attacking my 75 there yet. May look for a better answer. Possibly unbolting the latch from the gate and shimming it out to increase the pull in against the stops. Don't want to go too far either way, or you may damage something.
The problem is partly the wear inside the latch where the rod loop pivots. Oval holes are not stock...
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bliffle
Revvin Up
Posts: 95
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posted August 03, 2004 10:15 AM |
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OK, I squirted WD40 on everything, so later I'll try disassembly and shimming.
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