Be right back.. walking out to lock mine now :/

 

That sucks man. I feel bad for ya.
Makes me want to get an id number etched into the gate, so if that ver happens to me I can check out the internet ads....

 

You probably could find yours on craigslist or ebay.....why would someone sell their tailgate? Everypart on my truck has some type of marking that is theft proof so if found parts can be indentified as belonging to my vehicle. That was from the dealer so be careful what you buy.

 

Not all are stolen to sell. Like copper, recycling metal can give some money. Take a gate, beat it up with a bat to make it look like it was damaged to the point you wanted to get rid of it, recycle and you will have $20 in your hand.

Now, I know, $20 is nothing for most people. But the person that does this looks at it as a meal or a drug fix.

 

Ditto.

 

Maybe one of these tailgates in houston actually belong to this guy that had his stolen.
If someone ever tried to steal anything off my truck, they better hope i never find them, they`d never be able to do it again to anybody else. Kinda off topic here for a second, but i had some azzhole back into the front of my brand new truck a while back while i was sitting in it waiting for my wife, (my truck was 3 days old at the time) the guy simply just got out of his car and walked away without even careing. The idiot didnt even look at my truck when he started walkin away and he KNEW he hit my truck real hard too...!!!! So i yelled over to him, stopped him and asked if he`d like HIS car damaged. All he said to me was, "oh i didnt hurt your truck that bad". Guess you know THAT attitude just pizzed me off instantly. So, i told the guy wait right there for a second, then i walked right back to my truck, grabbed a pipewrench from under my front seat, took his windshield and drivers window out. Guy stood there an watched me do it. (not like he was gonna do anything about it as pizzed as i was at the time) He called the cops, i waited right there for the cops to arrive, other guy gets irate with the cop, so the cop says to him, "its very obvious that you smashed into his truck, guess all that broken glass makes you both even". Several witness`s standing by watched the whole thing go down, all were on my side that day, and a couple people said to me that they were glad to see someone take a stand against this kind of person that just walks thru life not giving a sh_t about others around them, and the guy very well deserved what he got. Sometimes you just gotta make stupid retarded people realize that you just cant do damage onto others property (or steal) and think its nothing. So to the guy that had his tailgate stolen, hunt them bazsterds down and break their arms and legs...!

 

Went into the stealership Friday to order a part and somehow the conversation got around to tailgates. The parts guys said a bunch are getting stolen all over the Albuquerque metro area. Mine is now locked!!

 

It seems like this theft is becoming pretty common. There was an article in my local paper about it. They also said it dose'nt get reported very often because people don't want to deal with the insurance companies.

 

The "quick fix" on the 2001 and 2004's that I owned was to put a stainless steel hose clamp around the tailgate hinge. It won't stop a thief but it will slow him down or require 2 people to take the tailgate off. I haven't looked at my 09 to see if the same "fix" will work.

 

Well I broke down and filed a claim with the insurance company since I only have a $500 deductible and was told that my rate would not go up since I have not had any prior claims. It was pretty difficult to find one in the right color and the one I found was over my deductible so I figured that I may as well just get a brand new one. I also talked the body shop into touching up my front bumper at no cost to me where some jackass backed into me and didn't leave a note (imagine that). So now I am going to keep it locked at all times and try to find some sort of additional locking mechanism to prevent future theft.

Any suggestions on this type of product?