Hello! Just wondering if anyone out there knows for sure if a stepside tailgate with fit on a styleside bed? Will it need any modifying to the bed or the gate? I need to round up a tailgate for my '57 styleside truck, I'm not concerned with big letters vs. small letters, I just want to close up the back of the truck. I'm not diggin' lookin' at the wheelwells. Someone please set me straight on what is what with these tailgates. Thanks! -DON-
I believe the tailgates are different sizes and will not interchange. I have two '60 F100s and both are fleetside, so I haven't personally measured.
I think the styleside is 51 inches and the stepside is 50 inches long. They also have different logos. I got a scratch & dent Dennis Carpenter tailgate off of egay last year for like $250. It only had one dent in the top rail.
Hey Shakin' Rat Fink, Thanks for the reply to my post (thanks also to the other posting)! Since you have a couple of F-100s, can you go take measurements of your tailgate and settle this for me? I've seen a few tailgates lately, I keep being re***ured that, "All Ford trucks had the same size tailgate for 30 years..." but I have trouble believing that . If you could help me out, I'd sure appreiate it! Thanks again, -DON-
Believe that bed is the one they sold the tooling for to Studebaker when they redesigned their trucks for '61, the Champ pickups used it for a few years. So that tailgate may fit too.
It's more complicated than that. The regular step side (Ford calls it Flareside) is 49 1/4". There is also an 8' Flareside bed that has a gate measuring 54 1/4". The Styleside uses a 52 1/2" gate. It was Dodge who sold their '59-'60 Styleside (or Sweptline but NOT Sweptside) bed to Stude for '61. I don't know what the width of that one is.
I always mix that up. I suppose you could just make your own tailgate, though, some small box tubing for a frame and some tin in the middle.. cut a Ford script out of some too rotty to use part for the center, or out of a later tailgate, and go -
i had a 57 years ago , same trouble no tailgate and never found one to fit , i eventually just painted the truck and put some new wood in the bed it actually looked better to me with no tailgate ..
Here's a quick diagram to explain my width measurements ... Here's the basic shape of the tailgate. The width across the red arrow is 51". The width across the blue is 52.5". The height is 20".
Hey guys- Thanks for all the replies! "Shakin'" you nailed it with that diagram! Thanks so much, I appreciate you taking the time to do that for me! I may take the suggestion of making my own tailgate. I hadn't considered it but now that I have "Shakin's" diagram, having a smooth plate tailgate would be pretty cool and fabbing it up shouldn't be too difficult. Thanks again to everyone for all the help, super cool of all of you!!! Best regards, -DON-
Hey NEO,I was actually wondering the same thing! I got a 57 Styleside shortbed also, there was a guy selling a NOS fleetside tailgate in the cl***ifieds not too long ago and he told me that theyre a bit shorter also. Actually, I am getting rid of the the taligate on mine soon, its rough but you can have it for free if your interested in it for any reason, let me know.
Hey Gearhead88, Brother, I'll more than take you up on that tailgate offer! No big deal if it's rough, rough can be worked out and left slightly ratty. I'll bring you some suds to sip down... what's your drink of choice? No rush, whenever you decide to let her go, please let me know and I'll come up from Fullerton. Forgive me for not writing Punk*** in the intro, it doesn't feel right with an offer of a free tailgate on the line. Thanks and I'll talk to you soon, -DON- p.s. "Revhead" thanks for the tip of the tailgate skin. It may come in handy! Do you have any names of suppliers or dealers? Thanks!
Just a thought. Ford used that bed until 62 into early 63. This expands your search for a little farther.
Hey all- Thanks to everyone for all the help with my tailgate (or lack there of), great group of people on this board!!! Greenmachine, that makes me feel better about the possibilites, thanks for the input. Aaron, I'll talk to you soon, thanks buddy!!! It's time to get working on this thing... maybe I'll have it ready for Route 66 in September, I'll keep posting the progress. THANK YOU TO ALL THAT CONTRIBUTED TO THIS THREAD, I'M CONFIDENT THAT I'LL FIND A TAILGATE!!! Best wishes to each and every one of you! -DON-
I dont know if this helps or not, but those tailgates are similar to these. It was pretty easy to do. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=221299
Hey, try LMC truck, I bought a re pop gate from them for my '60 Style Side then s****ped the '60 and bought a '57 Big Window, I think they have a smooth gate too. Their catalog is free. '61 Fords had the same box as '57-60 too...I think '62 may have had it to in F250 and up...not sure. If you really want to get crazy there was a truckin' mag I got a couple years ago with a '57 that had a custom mad gate the matched the body...didn't look like an after thought like the original gate. It was pretty trick.
That's true- the long bed trucks got the '57-'60 style bed until mid-'63. Looked kinda funny when the body lines didn't line up, but it has kind of a charm, being a factory quirk.
The Jalopy Journal
