Gentlemen,
Anyone know of an quality aftermarket device that covers the gap between the tailgate and truck bed?
I bought a aftermarket unit from Cabelas, but it was a piece of you know what - sent it back.
there's no problem when the gate is in the up position, it's when the tail gate is lowered and the dogs jump out that is of main concern. I've caught them a couple times before they broke a foot or something. Also when working out of the back of the truck, tools and gear tends to keep falling through that gap when the tail gate is down.
I'm working on fabricating one myself and think I have a good design in the works. Took more brain cells and concentration than I expected. May have it in place by this weekend - I hope!
Best regards to all of ya:rolleyes:

Gentlemen,
Anyone know of an quality aftermarket device that covers the gap between the tailgate and truck bed?
I bought a aftermarket unit from Cabelas, but it was a piece of you know what - sent it back.
there's no problem when the gate is in the up position, it's when the tail gate is lowered and the dogs jump out that is of main concern. I've caught them a couple times before they broke a foot or something. Also when working out of the back of the truck, tools and gear tends to keep falling through that gap when the tail gate is down.
I'm working on fabricating one myself and think I have a good design in the works. Took more brain cells and concentration than I expected. May have it in place by this weekend - I hope!
Best regards to all of ya:rolleyes:
try here
http://truckcapseals.com/uts.html

I don't think that seal will work like the way your talking about River. I'm looking for the same thing. Let know what you design please. I'd be very interested!!!!!

I have seen one some were that had a stainless strip on the bed and tailgate with rubber between them, but I don't remember where.

Gentlemen,
Thank you for the leads. I checked out the RokBlok at truckcapseals and contacted them - no joy on this one. It's an adhesive pliable rubber material that attaches between the bed and gate. Good idea in most applications, however, I need something solid where stuff won't get pinched, like puppy feet, etc. Also, the RokBlok cannot be applied if you have a sprayed on bedliner like I have.
The stainless steel strip with a durable rubber material in between is something like I had in mind.
Making a trip to West Marine today for the hinges and stainless steel hardware. Think I have something that may work pretty well. Will be happy to share with you guys.

I saw one like gearhead is talking about in the Cabela's Catalog. I looked into it in '01 and it didn't fit our trucks, don't know about now.

You are correct about the Cabela's unit. That's the one I ordered and was really dissapointed. It's nothing like the one illustrated in the catalog. What I received was a couple pieces of thin plastic with edges formed like the bed of our trucks, a thinner cross section on these pieces to operate as a hinged area and some a adhesive tape. Way to cheasy for $39.99 and worthless. If it was one with a stainless steel strip, I probably wouldn't have been as dissapointed.
I'll have time to install my fabricated one this Friday and give it a field test. Looks pretty clean so far. . .

Gentlemen,
I have successfully designed a hinged cover plate that operates much like found on the Lexus and BMW SUV tailgates that fold down to cover the tailgate/bed gap when the gate is lowered. This unit folds up automatically when the gate is raised. So far, the prototype is made of 1/4" black textured ABS plastic. Four black nylon marine grade hinges attach to the truck bed. The unit is installed in a way that water can still drain from the bed. A little fine tuning with the dimensions of the cover piece and use of counter-sunk screws will be the finishing touches.

Funny how something so simple can ease such a big problem. This will keep my dogs from breaking a foot and keep me from having to crawl under to pick up a tool that rolled and fell in that gap.

Would like to see some pictures.........

I'll do the finish work in the next day or so and take some photos for you guys. So far, I think it even looks cool and it works great!

So far, field testing of the homemade tailgate gap cover has proven better than expected. The only mod I'll make in the near future is to replace the nylock nuts on top of the cover with some nutserts to eliminate the protrusions that may catch or scratch an item being slid into the bed of the truck.

The 1/4" textured ABS is plenty strong to support quite a bit of weight without failure and all hardware is marine grade stainless. The hinges are nylon with stainless pins.

Even though simple in design, it took a little brain racking to get it right. Came down to just a few critical items:
1. The height of the hinge plates attached to the bed of the truck to match the bed.
2. The width of the cover plate for enough overlap
3. The captive cleat that secures the cover plate to the tailgate when the gate is in the closed position and pulls the cover plate over when the gate is opened. The captive cleat is small and nonobtrusive. The location (each side of the tailgate) of the cleats haven't been a problem thus far.

My dogs are happy, I haven't dropped a tool through that gap and had crawl on my hands and knees to retrieve it. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or suggestions!

http://img90.exs.cx/img90/851/tailgategapcover13an.jpg

http://img212.exs.cx/img212/588/tailgategapcovercaptivecleat9l.jpg

http://img212.exs.cx/img212/5909/tailgategapcoverclosed9sg.jpg

http://img212.exs.cx/img212/9127/tailgategapcoveropening0hx.jpg

http://img212.exs.cx/img212/3586/happydudley0yk.jpg

riverchucky (http://dieselplace.com/forum/member.php?u=14775)<SCRIPT type=text/javascript> vbmenu_register("postmenu_534918", true); </SCRIPT> Looks great :ro)
If one could find hinges that incorportated springs, then you could most likely do with out the captive cleats?
Nutserts as you mentioned would also be an added feature!

WELL DONE ):h Are you considering putting together kits?

I'm with PT -- springs on the hinges, and different nut's/bolt's....

Then sell it as a kit!

It turned out very nice - well done!

-Jeff

Thank you!
I searched for a decent stainless springed hinges, found some at $18.00 a piece. . .Yikes! And went with the captive cleat idea. Basically, it's just a mini boating cleat with one end cut off and filed smooth. Nutserts it is, just need to find 'em in #8-32.
Kits? Hmmm. . . If there is enough demand, I could see doing that. :rolleyes:

My lovely wife pointed out that spring loaded hinges would be a good idea, however over time, contaminents like dirt, concrete dust etc. would probably ruin the spring action. Maybe keeping it simple isn't such a bad idea?

8-32 nutserts: http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=42903&item=7500630954&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

Thank you Mwgasman, that's a lot of nutserts! If I do a production run of these, that would be the way to go!

The ABS plastic gap cover served well except for two significant issues.
1) The exposed nuts would catch on everything I would slide into the bed of the truck. I knew that was going to happen, but when it ripped a bag of concrete, it was time to initiate Ver. 2.0

2) Direct sunlight & heat would cause the ABS plastic to warp and look like the foothills.

The remedy was pretty simple. 1/4" X 4" aluminum, beveled on each side. Drilled holes, tap threaded them and cut the screws to fit so they wouldn't protrude. May get it powder coated black to match.

Looks great! Are you going to make kits? I would most likely LineX it, then it would match the rest of my bed and tailgate. ):h

Pt536, Now that's an even better idea, LineX'n it! I am considering making kits if there's enough interest. They'd be a bit more pricey than what's already out there. 'Course this seems to work way better than anything else I've seen.
Best regards to everybody!