C60L tailgate fabrication
 

While waiting for some resolution to our anti military government behemoth insurance and motor vehicle conglomerate to allow me to operate my winch truck, I plod on.
Needed a tailgate and the only solution was to make it myself so I hope I document it for anyone else in a similar situation.
Plus I waited until the end was in sight to see if this would work out.
I have a handy template as I already have a C60L done and licensed and available for measurements.
So here is a good picture of what I need to build and a detail of a complicated area.

choices
 

after consulting with a couple of fabrication shops i found i couldn't have the top edge rolled into a box section and it was suggested, and the route i chose was to weld on a "c" section in place of the boxed top edge.
So the first thing was off to Metalmart for an 30 inch by 82 14 gauge sheet, another choice was to go with 14 gauge as 12 was thicker than the original and 14 was lighter. I got my handy son to write up a file for the water jet cutter and off i went to the shop. I also bought the whole 4'x8' sheet as I used lots of the rest of it too. I did have the same shop bend up two pieces into 1"x3"x1" C channel.

on hand material and a start
 

I had some 2.25" C channel under my bench from an old project and while I was going to use it top and bottom I only used it for the top.

For awhile my welding was pretty good.

trial fit and latches
 

I hung the basic sheet on the truck and got a sense of how to make what I call the hangers. Used an Oxy/Acetaline torch to heat up a piece of 2" by 3/8ths bar stock and bent it in the vice, curve looks pretty much the same as the original. My luck with welding didn't hold up as the wire spool ran out and was feeding irregularly before it ran out and I'm a little slow at figuring out what was happening with the stuttering feed.
After fitting and welding I ground the welds and edges smooth and finished with some 80 grit sandpaper to smooth out all the edges as these surfaces see a lot of hands.

Hinges hinges! My kingdom for a hinge!
 

Because of the way it is constructed, hinges had to go on next.
So the upper gate portion of the hinges are supposed to be like the lowers, I looked to see if there were any 5/8" pin heavy duty weld hinges available. Lo and behold an Ebayer in Malta had ones that fit the bill, so I clicked away and waited a couple of days vainly for them to ship, only to get a message that they were sorry and that they no longer had any in stock and wouldn't for the foreseeable future and refunded my money. Undaunted I looked again optimistic that I would find them anyways, nope! I sent a few inquiries via "contact us" boxes on some business websites and true to form no one ever actually gets those messages because the guy that knew how died years ago or whatever.
So I embarked on an effort with lots of pictures a jig and all only to give up. I would have needed a forge and i don't have one.
So buy chance I found 4 suitable gate hinge straps in the hardware shelves at lowes, they looked like they would work and i set out to install them.
When finished the only visible difference from original will be the width on the hinge pin, much narrower and the upper part is buried under more C channel. Also I was able to bolt them in place, test the clearances and then weld them up, removing the bolts one by one and welding the holes up.

Lower C channel
 

I dug out another piece of C channel I had fabricate years ao out of either 10 or 12 gauge and it was 1" by 2 inch by 1 inch, All "outside" measurements. It took a lot of cutting and grinding to get it to fit over the hinges and i forgot to take pictures but it was a lot of fitting chalking and grinding to get it to fit from side to side.
Welding wasn't great and welding got worse as the feed was stuttering badly and I assumed it was me, But I got to the upright 1"x3"x1" C channel for the uprights and I paused to find out what was wrong with me or the welder. Turns out the spool was just to tight on the post and I greased it and all seems to be well. You can see how the C channels hide the hinge.
Looking after one of the grandkids tomorrow so back at it in a couple of days!

Great job Harry....... and just in time.
 

Thanks for documenting your trial and tribulations.....

Running into the same problem on mine for the top edge.... I need a 3/4 x 3/4 double return so the 14 gauge skin is one piece with the top and the fabricator can't do it....... simple to do on a large 8 foot wide panbox brake but on a MODERN HYDRAULICS they would need a special one time offset bending blade.

On the hinges did you not consider using thick wall water pipe section welded to a strap bevelled to fit into the pipe.???

Will check my wire spool before I start my welding.......

Excellent work, Harry....and thanks for sharing the info here!

Alex

end of intermission
 

Well I got back to work and tacked on the other three 1x3x1 C channels and Sean Black came by and conferred over the welder. Result was I was pushing through .035wire and the welder suggests .030 is the max. So new wire in .030 a proper tip and a new ground connection and my welding improved.

welding and boot step
 

with the tailgate off I could weld the bottom seam, and bending out the steps and trimming them.

hinges
 

With the tailgate off I cleaned up the welds on the inside

hooks and ties
 

fabricated some U hooks and the ties(?) and installed them in the same locations.
then touched up welds, some grinding and then sanded everything especially edges with 60 grit.

closer thingy
 

Next up was cutting out the holes for the hooks to hold the tailgate closed. the hole is tilted slightly so the more the hook comes down the tighter the gate closes. So it started with thec two holes slightly offset. then using the small air saw to cut out beteween them and the air grinder to finish it off.

hooks
 

next up was to fabricate the hooks. I used the torch to heat up some 5/8 hot rolled rod and flattened out the ends, then I trimmed them to shape and ground the edges. Then heated them up againand did the u bends. Next was to bend the loop into a link of the chain, I neglected to take a good picture but it shows the before and after in the one picture. Then hung the chain and cut to proper length.
Which i use to hold the tailgate flat, the originals are a few inches longer.

securing the chain
 

at the top the rings that previously held the chains had to be repaired, lucky for me and my suspect welding the strain is placed not on my welding.

wrap up and "if I did it over" advice.
 

a little video saves a lot of key strokes. Ignore the licence plate, it's not licensed yet, just for fabricating the licence plate light.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FHWk0zOKIc

:cheers:

Very nice job.........
 

Good job Harry

Good tip on drilling the holes slightly off set.....

We have made hinges with a home made jig held in a solid vice and using the acet/oxy torches......not too difficult.....Grant is the expert resident jig maker....... he also cold bent some fender brackets from 1/2 by 3 in. using home made dies and the 20 ton press......perfect 90 degrees!!

Using a long NEW steel rod does make it easier to line up the hinges.

We prime with self hetching primer, POR 15 semigloss frame coating and multi coats of OD......

Love the arrow heads on your hooks......

did you ever try to find the old fashion period chain that was longer narrow chain links...... found some at farm auction cheap......

Grant did all his trailer in Epoxy gray primer with OD........ looks real nice.

Is your winch set up and running...... mine is exactly like yours transplanted to my C15a by the PO. Grant has a C60L with the cable still in place...... typical eye fittings BUT the 11/16 cable is spliced/woven then wrapped tappered in steel wire...... not sure how I will do that.....any ideas........

Thanks for taking the time to document for our successors.....

Thanks Bob
 

The arrow heads are purposeful and very close to originals. The arrow can negotiate the openings and sort of cam the tailgate shut as you rotate it down.
Chains are pretty much the same as the originals on the other truck
Yes the winch works as in another video I posted, currently set it up to go to the front so its hard to catch a glimpse of it in the pictures. I've used up what I could of the gallon of POR15 that i had, pocking holes into it to try to hit liquid paint. I swear you can bond a tank together without welding with that stuff, the lid will never come off, EVER, if you get paint in the lip.

Very nice work, Harry.

David

Thanks David.
 

two more years until my wife retires, I don't know what she will have me doing then, she has plans.... :fry:

Por 15......
 

I only buy quarts now.......use what I need then pour out into a canning jar...... I try to leave very little air space inside before screwing the top I put half of a zip lock bag between the ring top and the glass..... in some cases I had to peel the screwed ring with pliers......

...and never pour POR into a foam cup for a small job....... the cup bottom will melt before the job is done and really make a mess......

Got a link to the video of using the winch??? Never used mine but plans are to install a lighter 1/2 cable for more flex and longer cable...... I have some almost new 3/4 inch cable from a tow truck but it is stiff as h%^$....

Cheers

Hinges
 

Buddy came over today and we talked about the hinges, his opinion is that theseareavailable at leafspring shops and also could be made from the ends of old leaf springs. food for thought