A pickup tailgate is how much? Wow.

they are always the first thing to get ruined on a pickup.. so I imagine that a pristine would be worth a lot

Try car-part.com

For $3000 you could probably have it straightened out.

Police departments seize and auction a lot of stolen tailgates. Unfortunately they tend to be platinum, bighorn, ltz or other nicer trim packages with the camera.

See if you can find someone with a steel louvered tailgate - probably with a fifth wheel. Chances are they'll have a good tailgate in the garage. My FIL does. Maybe a wanted ad on CL?

But yeah, it's probably the part of the truck that takes the biggest abuse, so finding a good used one will be a challenge. Supply and demand.

dayum, just went out n locked mine

da fuq

tailgates are supposed to be bent. it proves that you use your truck for truck stuff..

In reply to F-350SD:

Black should match pretty well. Getting the $600 one and painting it may be the way to go. I had a spoiler painted green for my wife's Fiat and it matches almost perfect and the guy charged $75. I can't see a tailgate being much more.

F-350SD wrote: I've tried car-part, Hollander, Craigslist and eBay. Mine has the step and camera, but I don't need the new one to have it. The quad is as big as the mini and weighs 950 pounds so it screwed it up enough that repairing it would mean new skin and paintwork. I can actually find new white ones for $600 and have it painted, but I know it won't match.

Unless you live in Antarctica I find it very difficult to believe there isn't a good paint matching body shop near you. We match stuff every day where I work. Dark colors are easy too.

I have a friend in law enforcement that told me there are thieves now that target only Ford tail gates. Sometimes 30-40 are stolen from a single area in one night. The newer ones are easier to get off apparently as they don't even bolt on. That's what I was told. The Police are running programs now that scour Ebay and CL looking for anyone that are selling multiple tail gates. They are even following one dealership that may be involved. Hmmmmmmm, who would have thought that a dealership might be dishonest?

When I bought my 2010 F350 the sales guy told me keep the tail gate locked at all times there the hottest selling thing on the truck with very high theft rates. Brought it in for it 1st oil change service guy told me same thing... I keep it locked.

Get rid of the tailgate and put up a cargo net until one presents itself. Theres a place around here that does utility bed conversions. You can buy an entire new pickup bed and tailgate from them for less than $2800.

http://toledo.craigslist.org/pts/5172895807.html

you can buy whole new takeoff beds with lights and gate for under 2k from places putting utility beds on.

Does it have the built in step, etc. I saw one on a buddies truck recently and it is way more swanky than the one on my '01 F350.

iadr wrote: Umm, China, a sea-can full of tailgates, please. But yeah, a dealership I was working at in parts had a couple stolen off the lot trucks one weekend. They don't all lock with the auto lock (fob). They should ... but I believe Ford in particular does not.

2010 Dodge doesn't either. Which is annoying, because to lock the tailgate you need to remove the inner key from the fob. I've lost a spare wheel/tire off my truck (at the Mitty, I believe) but luckily no tailgate. No tools are required to remove it, as removing a tailgate should be easy.

Come to think of it, it's possibly less hassle to remove the tailgate than it is to lock it.

I find it hard to believe a decent paint shop couldn't make it match, I know Fords use a pretty heavy flake in their paints but it's not adjoining another panel so you'd be hard pressed to notice any potential mismatch.

claim it on insurance? A $3K repair seems worth claiming and just being done with it.

^That. It's not like trying to match 10 year old oxidized, red paint.

I don't know about his insurance, but it's worth asking. My friend's wife backed her Magnum into his Aveo and his insurance company doesn't cover damage caused by a driver on the same policy. ;-)

The $3K price point is mind boggling. Do you just take out a 2nd mortgage on a new F-150 that has the BLIS in the tail lights when you have to replace the lights and the tailgate?

Keep patience! I was able to score a very nice 09+ Superduty tailgate for $60 (yes, $60) at a swap meet. Dude wanted $80 and I talked him down even! It was white, but my truck is white, so I was happy!

Took off an absolutely wrecked Chinese one and still got $50 for the wrecked one on Craigslist and the dude was happy to get it.

Chinese tailgates are garbage, mine weighed about half of what a factory gate does, but was on the truck when I got it. If you are just prepping a truck to sell, I can see a Chinese gate, otherwise don't waste your money.

As a few others have said, keep asking around at your local upfitters. For every 100 oxford white Ford trucks upfitted, some field manager/VP/director of somethingorother, has decided that he wants to look fancier than the rest of his fleet trucks and ordered a tuxedo black truck, and had a utility bed/insert installed.

Or go with your insurance. Depending on your coverage, it may not affect your rates.

I'm seeing take off late model Ford tailgates for $5-600 on local CL around here. $3K is berkeleying crazy.

I remember when tailgates were designed to be easily removed.

Ah progress.