The 1947 - Present Chevrolet & GMC Truck Message Board Network - Solution for Tailgate Swap

For anyone wanting to put the 1976-1980 tailgate on an 81+ bed, you’ve probably found that the hardware is different. The 81+ gates have hinges that bolt on, where the 80 and earlier gates have the hinge pockets formed into the tailgate sheet metal. The 76-80 hinge pockets are a larger diameter than the 81+, so the trunnions on the bed posts need to be changed to match. It seems that the driver’s side trunnion is currently out of stock most places, I had to devise a solution with what I had. This worked really well, so I wanted to share with others.

First, some vocab to keep things straight – I’m referring to the tailgate “hinge” as the piece that bolts to the tailgate of the 81+ gate. The “hinge pocket” is the equivalent geometry built into the sheet metal of the 76-80 gate. The “trunnion” is the mating piece that is bolted to the bedsides.

It turns out that the round piece of the left side tailgate hinge from 81+ is the perfect diameter to fit inside the sheet metal hinge pocket on the 76-80 gate. To “make” the 76-80 left trunnion that was out of stock, I just needed to install the round piece from the 81+ hinge on the sheet metal bracket from the 81+ trunnion. Pic attached helps explain what I did. Unfortunately, I didn’t think it would actually work, so didn’t take any pictures during the process.