What have you done with your tailgate?

[RamblinAnne]

I've been fulltiming in my Bigfoot for almost a year now and I'm still undecided on what to do with my tailgate for my Ford. It's currently sitting in my moms garage in New York. I'm out West with no plans to drive back East anytime soon. And even if I did, I still wouldn't be able to take the tailgate with me as long as the camper is on. I'm unsure what to do with it. I know I should probably keep it for resale value but I wonder if it'll even be worth it because I imagine shipping a huge and heavy tailgate would cost more than just buying a new one wherever I am. And I could probably get more money from selling the tailgate while it's still relatively new.

I'm wondering who has sold theirs and if they regret it, and what the fulltimers without a sticks and bricks home/a storage unit do with theirs?

[RamblinAnne]

Thanks everyone! All good answers. And yes, as toedtoes said, my issue is that I do NOT have a sticks and bricks to store the tailgate. It's at my mom's which is fine for now but I know she plans on moving within the next year or two and there is just no way she's going to be able to move it on her own if the time ever comes to ship it to me (it's very heavy). And again, I'll have no where to store it unless I rent a storage unit which I know will add up. I've managed to rid myself of all possessions that don't fit in my truck + camper so to have to rent a storage unit just for the tailgate would be incredibly frustrating.

I wonder if wrapping it up and mounting it on my roof would be an option??

It sounds like my best option is to hold on to it for now and just deal with the issue of shipping and storing it when the time comes. Hopefully I'll have plenty of notice before that happens and will have a plan in place. Thanks to everyone for all the different suggestions!

[BradW]

First thing is I always remove and install the tailgate over grass instead of concrete; for the obvious reason.

I nailed a piece of carpet onto my garage wall and stand the tailgate up against it, Line-X side out. I screwed an eyelet on each side of the tailgate and hold it up against the wall with a strap. I put a bungee cord between the two steel cables to keep them from flopping around.

[Bedlam]

If storage will cost you more than replacing the tailgate at a later date, sell it. I removed my F250 tailgate when it was new and didn't put it back on until 10 years later when I sold the truck. It was wrapped in two moving blankets and moved with us once, but I always had a place to store mine indoors.

[trail-explorer]

DenverDan wrote:
I'm a long time member; new 5th wheel owner. Please excuse my ignorance, but besides the obvious possibility of not lowering the tailgate for hitching up and unhitching, what other reasons are there that one would need to remove the tailgate? ?

This is the truck camper forum. Most truck campers require removal of the tailgate to haul the camper.

[toedtoes]

I think the OP's issue is that he/she does not have a stick & brick home to store the tailgate. Currently, it is being stored at the OP's mother's home in New York which is a long way away from where the OP is and/or will be.

Will the cost of a storage place to keep this tailgate closer to the OP be worth it?

If the OP keeps it at the mother's home, that will require shipping and finding someone local to the mother to collect the tailgate and prepare it for shipping (I'm going to assume the OP's mother is NOT going to do that herself).

[GKAbbott]

I built some shelves in my garage. Made the top shelf so the tailgate barely fits between the shelf and ceiling. The limited space keeps anyone from stacking on top of it. I'm keeping mine.

[centerline]

I used some screw in eye-bolts and installed them in the rafter/trusses overhead in the garage, and then used rope to hoist the tailgate flat against the ceiling, and tied it off... its out of the way, and takes up no usable space that could be used for else.

tailgates (complete) are very costly and they come unpainted, so if you get rid of it, its going to be quite expensive to replace it...

[mkirsch]

Your assertion that it would cost more to ship than buy is misguided. New tailgates are NOT cheap, then to get them outfitted with the hardware and painted to match (almost impossible to get a good match on most colors) will far exceed the cost to ship.

[Tizi]

I wrap mine in a moving blanket and put in in my shed. Use it when I need it and will keep if I sell the truck.

[Ralph_Cramden]

Hold on to it. The tailgate alone is @ $1400 OEM, then you need all the hardware, latches, trim, hinges, camera etc, and paint......probably close to $3K all said and done if not more.

[DenverDan]

work2much wrote:

DenverDan wrote:
I'm a long time member; new 5th wheel owner. Please excuse my ignorance, but besides the obvious possibility of not lowering the tailgate for hitching up and unhitching, what other reasons are there that one would need to remove the tailgate? If I am careful to open the tailgate prior to hitching and close it after hitching, can't I travel with the tailgate closed while pulling the TH?

Did you mean to post this in the Truck Camper forum?

Aha! I thought I was still in the 5th wheel forum. Disregard my stupid question...

[work2much]

DenverDan wrote:
I'm a long time member; new 5th wheel owner. Please excuse my ignorance, but besides the obvious possibility of not lowering the tailgate for hitching up and unhitching, what other reasons are there that one would need to remove the tailgate? If I am careful to open the tailgate prior to hitching and close it after hitching, can't I travel with the tailgate closed while pulling the TH?

Did you mean to post this in the Truck Camper forum?

[toedtoes]

Do an ebay/craigslist search for your year, make and model tailgate. If there are tons out there, then it might be easier to sell. If there are few to none, then keep it.

[DenverDan]

I'm a long time member; new 5th wheel owner. Please excuse my ignorance, but besides the obvious possibility of not lowering the tailgate for hitching up and unhitching, what other reasons are there that one would need to remove the tailgate? If I am careful to open the tailgate prior to hitching and close it after hitching, can't I travel with the tailgate closed while pulling the TH?

[Kayteg1]

work2much wrote:

TxGearhead wrote:
If your Mom's not complaining about it, I think I would leave it there. Ya never know.

This seems like the obvious choice. We are close to selling or renting our home and going full time. I think we will end up doing a storage locker for at least a couple years. We will end up at some point buying another sticks and bricks.

Don't know if you have better pricing in your area, but when we sold the house East of San Francisco, the 10x20 storage for 2 years would cost us at least $12,000
Unless you have whole house of antique furniture, it is better give the stuff you have to charity and use the 12 grands for buying new stuff when you settle again.