sewlow
Bitchin' Stitchin'
I swapped out those cables for the metal straps on my '98 years ago.
Helping a friend of a friend move.
One of the 'Strong like bull. Smart like tractor' 20-something-year-olds grabbed the handle & just let the tailgate drop. Both cables let go at once.
Then...he walked up on the tailgate to get in the box. (!!!)
The formerly near-perfect tailgate now had 2 big creases across the width from where it was sitting on the bumper.
Dropping it was bad enough. Walking on it afterward? Stupidly ignorant! The kid didn't have a clue. "I thought that that was the way it was supposed to be."
Threw everything out of the back of my truck & left.
Went & bought a nice tailgate, in the same color, & presented the bill to the kid. Took 3 months & contributions from the person moving, the guy that conned me into helping, along with the kid & his parents chipping in, to get paid.
Anyways...
IIRC, when I replaced the cables for the straps, the only difference between the 2 were the mounts on the tailgate. They're specific between the two styles. No modifications to the box or the tailgate. It was a direct swap.
One of the first things I did when I bought my '97 was to ditch those cables.
Helping a friend of a friend move.
One of the 'Strong like bull. Smart like tractor' 20-something-year-olds grabbed the handle & just let the tailgate drop. Both cables let go at once.
Then...he walked up on the tailgate to get in the box. (!!!)
The formerly near-perfect tailgate now had 2 big creases across the width from where it was sitting on the bumper.
Dropping it was bad enough. Walking on it afterward? Stupidly ignorant! The kid didn't have a clue. "I thought that that was the way it was supposed to be."
Threw everything out of the back of my truck & left.
Went & bought a nice tailgate, in the same color, & presented the bill to the kid. Took 3 months & contributions from the person moving, the guy that conned me into helping, along with the kid & his parents chipping in, to get paid.
Anyways...
IIRC, when I replaced the cables for the straps, the only difference between the 2 were the mounts on the tailgate. They're specific between the two styles. No modifications to the box or the tailgate. It was a direct swap.
One of the first things I did when I bought my '97 was to ditch those cables.