C60L tailgate fabrication

[Harry Moon]

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.

[Harry Moon]

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.

[Harry Moon]

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.

[Harry Moon]

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.

[Harry Moon]

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

[Bob Carriere]

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.....

[Harry Moon]

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.