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Cheap tailgate latches

coilover

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Some of you have seen these before but since the price is right (free) I'll show them again. Just cut the seat belt buckles off a junker waiting to go to the yard. The tailgate "UP" and "DOWN" position shows how the channel on the tailgate ends needs to be trimmed for limiter cable clearence. Red one is a 48 and orange one a 49.
 

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Evan,

Sharp work, sir! Could you share a little more information about the fuel tank mounted in the orange pick-up, please? Did you build a custom tank? Or was it a modified stock unit? Or modified unit from another application?

I've decided to go with the stock location for the '47-'48 trucks, but hadn't considered a custom fill location 'til you posted this. Awesome idea, and your craftsmanship looks fantastic.

Damon
 
I installed the seat belt latches on my truck and it worked out well. Got rid of the chains. A friend suggested it to me as he had done the same thing to his trucks. A cheap way to fix a problem. Be sure to have a way to support the tailgate as shown in the other post. Otherwise a dented tailgate may occur.
 
Dented like this one on 52 green truck or the one on the 48 ?

Got any photo's of what you did?
 

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Damon,
The tank is a factory 47/48 one and so are the mounting brackets. The original filler hole in the tank was blocked off and a new one made in the top of the tank so the filler is straight up when the bed board is raised.
 
Thanks, Evan! I think I'm going to try to find an OEM replacement for the '47-'48 trucks and use that, including the original filler spot. I would consider using a filler under a bed board like you did on this truck, I really like that from the security aspect, but I'm kinda planning on using an old trunk or cooler in the bed as a secure cargo space. If I have the cargo box in the back, I probably couldn't do the bed board trick unless I did it part-length instead of full. A possibility, sure, but I bet it would take quite a bit of engineering to move the filler neck. We'll see, I'm a LONG ways from that point. Thanks again, I appreciate your insight.

Damon
 
Almost forgot. Do you know the capacity of the '47-'48 factory tank? I'm hoping to have something in the 20-gallon range.

Damon
 
The factory tank measures 13x13x25 inches which is 4225 cubic inches and there are 231 ci per gallon which comes out to just over 18 gallons but the corners are rounded so the actual amount will be less. I'd guess they are rated at about 17g.
 
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