gunder26

Thanks Trade. The talent comes in the box the welder came in. Haha. Mig welding is surprisingly easy once you get the hang of it. I've found that welding thicker material is much easier than welding thinner. So this project was perfect. A welder and a sawzall. What more do you need?!?!

gunder26

Now I'm ready to cover her all up and make it look purty from the inside...or at least when it's down. I went to Industrial Metal Supply in Irvine and picked up a .100" think piece of diamond plate. They can cut these to any size, so I figured I'd have them cut it exactly to what I need. Fits perfectly. Marked where the cross pieces were underneath, drilled through both, ran a tap through the bar and dropped a 1/4"-28 button head cap screw through every 12" or so.

Diamond plate always looks awesome anywhere.

Countryboy2744

Very nice work. I would be happy with the first support you made lol. I have seen a lot of bent or dented tailgates that have had to much weight on them from quads/side and by sides.

Are you planning on replacing the 2 pieces of cable with heavier stuff?

gunder26

Oh definitely. Those cables unclip pretty easy. They'll be replaced by some nice beefy steel rods (that'll easily attach when I have to load this up). When I don't have it loaded, I'll keep the cables on there.

henduford

impressive

G Diablo

How much would u charge if someone asked if u could make another frame

gunder26

Haha. Never thought of that. Now that I know how to do it, and what not to do, prob $800 or so. But I'd have to have your tailgate to do it. Takes some custom fitting to make it right.

For a Texan though....I might even do it for free!

archer23

Just curious, but why not just fab up a second tailgate? Take off the stock when you need to, when you get back, put the stock back on. The original concept looked like the best of both worlds, but honestly if I were to try something like that I would have completely ruined it.

It does look incredible though, very impressed with your fab skills.

corey_lax

I agree. That's what I would have done. But if he has to switch tailgates every week then it might be worth while for him to make a full time, supported tail gate. The only thing I don't like about his build is that there's no "spring loaded" feature on the tailgate so wife/kids won't really be wanting to lift it up. Might not be a bad thing haha

corey_lax

Also, I wouldn't worry about the aircraft cables breaking. Those things are more than strong enough to support the load. But, in one picture, it looks like the one cable is taking all the weight. So might want to even those out.