I have seen some really nice latches made from the two ends of a
seat belt. One end with the pushbutton is welded to the inside of
the box. The other end is welded to the tailgate. Push the button
on each side and it comes loose. Invisible when the gate is closed
and covered.
For the chains, I was looking at this the other day. My 93 Dakota
by D***e has plastic coated cables for the tailgate. The ends hook
over a wide flat head bolt on each end. The whole works folds up
between the tailgate and the box side when the gate is closed. I
bet one of these could be fit in there. Otherwise, some people have
used the same setup between the tailgate and the inside of the box.
Again invisible when the gate is closed and covered.
GM's Fleetsides in the 60's and 70's used solid bars to hold the
gate. These folded into the gap too. The nice thing was that if
you bent the joint backwards, the slotted hole would fit over the
squared off pin end and the bars could be disconnected. Then if
you held the gate at a certain angle (about 45 degrees) the hinges
were set up so that one would slip out and the gate could be removed
completely without unbolting anything.
Personally I sort of like the chains, but then I'm going for an original
look externally.
Bruce K
57 3200
Mt. Iron, MN
At Wednesday, 28 May 2003, you wrote:
>I have made some hidden hinges for my ~49 GMC and would like to
install
>some latches to get rid of the chain and hook assembly.Any suggestions
>of how to do this.I have looked at some cabinet hardware but have yet
>to find anything acceptable.Thanks Bob
>oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
>
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