I service a '99 where it appears the bed has spread somehow and the tailgate can now move enough side to side to fall off one hinge.

Granted, the plastic bushings are long gone but they alone won't solve the problem -- even if centered each pivot point is barely engaged

I looked at a '98 I also have here which is also missing the bushings and the spacing is MUCH tighter.

RUST ISN'T A THING HERE so this '99 has spread by some other means.....fatigue....built on a Friday afternoon....something

Has anyone else seen this??

I see little choice but to space the hinges away from the tailgate itself where they bolt on, which is entirely possible. I do also have bushings on order (Dorman --- f'n KILL ME NOW, ugh) but that alone ain't gonna solve this problem

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Looks like the sheetmetal is bent there where the body-side hinge mounts.....

 

Yeah could be, although in person not so much. Angles and shadows in photos do weird things.

I WILL SAY it's lame Dodge built the body pivots into the bed. GM does them as a separate bolt-on piece and I could have sworn Ford does, too.

 

If you have some fab skills, probably wouldn't be too bad to come up with some bolt-on mount hinges... Of course, that would require access to the inside of the bed there as well. Don't know if that is even possible without cutting.

 

That sheeting is bent. The two bolts in the van of the picture someone added to try and draw it in.

 

Try removing your left tail light ***'y. I'll bet you can get enough access to the inside portion of the hinge mount to '**** 'er a good one' with a 5lb sledge and block of 2X4. Hope you already have a 2X4, a new one will cost more than the pick up is worth!

 

I'm glad you all turned me onto the seam separation in the sheetmetal. I has ASSumed that was mostly cosmetic but turns out there's disturbingly little structure to the bed itself in this area.

I corrected the separation as best I could but even that meant the tailgate was hanging on by 1/32" or less so I spaced one hinge over. I suppose the uniform thing would be to space both but in the interest of time I cut corners, and the gate now functions really well!

Separation left

Separation right

Tail light removed left. Access is very good to use a BFH or air hammer to knock things back into place

Paint removed as best as possible with 2" grinder and copious clamping combined with air hammer blows on the back side

Note washers at TOP of photo to space hinge out. Other hole (finger indicates) was slotted and for good measure I added a 1/4-20 nutsert so the bracket couldn't possibly bend and slide with the newly created slot

Fin. Plus a random Dorman bushing that'll probably fail in a week - it's the only bushing in the assortment that would fit

 

Looks like the other side where the hinge mounts could stand some of that loving attention too.

 

I did the right at the same time, it was absolutely mandatory and only then I realized I still had to space the tailgate-mounted pivot over with washers


Right side completed