C60L tailgate fabrication

[Harry Moon]

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.