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Re: Wampus Cat
Tailgate Trunnions
The tailgate trunnions on the truck were badly worn, actually an oval shape with about a 1/16” difference in axis so the tailgate had a lot of play. When I was considering some of the aftermarket trunnions a few months ago, they seemed to be out of stock for fleetsides.
In looking around, I found that the outside of a 1” schedule 40 PVC pipe coupling is about a perfect fit to slide in to the pocket on the end of the tailgate. Using my band saw, I sliced a coupling to make a few “bushings” the right lengths to fit in to those tailgate pockets.
Then, I mounted each of the old trunnions on the end of a bolt, chucked it in the drill press, started spinning it, and used a grinder to size it down so that it would fit inside the “bushing” made from the PVC coupling.
After that, I cleaned up the parts, added a little paint, and mounted the tailgate using a little white lithium grease on the “bushings”.
PVC is not the ideal material for this “bushing” but I was able to make two of the “bushings” from a $1.50 coupling so they are cheap to replace if they wear or crack.
The tailgate fits nicely, no slop at the pivot points, and goes up and down quietly. I was trying to eliminate the slop because I want to try to adapt S10 latching hardware next.
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