Careful if you ever haul rock...

[bvstone1]

Well, the Titan got it's first big job today. Had to pick up about a half yard of 1.5" purple quarts to finish up some landscaping.

Well, it was scary enough watching him dump the load into my truck (it was a full scoop from a loader). Luckily no damange (big sign out front that says "No responsible for any vehicle damage"). Boy did the suspension drop as it was loaded.. LOL!

And, since the box is shorter, a lot fell off the tailgate as he was dumping it in. The driver said "man, short box!"

Anyhow, the right side of the tailgate likes to come off it's little bump stop. Happened once before, and it happened again today as I tried to lift the gate to push more rock into the bed..

Long story short, the rock (on any truck) likes to fall into the crack between the bed and tailgate. Because the right side fell off it's little stopper, even more went down.

After unloading it all, I noticed some of the rock had fallen through, ended up on the top of the bumber and scuff/scratched the bottom edge of the tailgate.. a couple pretty good scuffs. But only on the side where the tailgate came off the little pivot.

I touched it up (hardley noticable now unless you really look and see the touch ups), and said "well, it's a truck... that will happen" and went into town to get lunch hoping someone would rearend me so I could get it repainted... LOL!

It isn't bothering me much anymore, but just be carefull... and don't touch the tailgate if you have a load of rock in the bed.. just leave it down... those rocks won't go anywhere.

I also though, maybe it would be a good idea to put herculiner on the bottom edge of the tailgate, about 1.5 inches up. This would protect it a lot better than the fragile paint. Who knows.. maybe one day... but its touched up pretty good. And if I have nightmares, I'll just get it repainted.. at least it's a small easy part to paint.

[Doghouse]

I take an oversized tarp and put it in the back of the bed and over the tailgate. After they fill it I flip the tarp forwards and attach it to the front of the bed. Covers the load, and protects the tailgate when traveling.

For rock, I use canvas. Glad to hear the dammage was minimal.

[Optimist]

I hear you on the drop. Needed about 1000sq. ft of tile & broke the load up to avoid going over & when it was being lowered by forklift I yelled wait! the rear just kept on going to where It seemed the springs were just about flat. I continued to load right about to LE max limit but I will be using my utility trailer next time I go this heavy. When loading rocks & such with the tailgate down, perhaps drape a towel or such across the gap.

[BudmanHemi]

Rhino line the gap for protection, and load it up! Extensive testing has went into that payload, and although is seems too drop alot, it will haul it. It seems scary, but those titans are not from the 1980's. They will haul what they rate. I went too home depot too pick up some wall stone. They wanted me too make too trips cause of payload size. I told them throw it all on. (pallatized wall stone for building a wall). As far as power didnt even know the load was there. Suspension was another story. It was darn near scraping the ground on bumps.. LOL I should be the poster boy for what you shouldn't do.

[kmfernandez]

Originally Posted by bvstone1

Anyhow, the right side of the tailgate likes to come off it's little bump stop. Happened once before, and it happened again today as I tried to lift the gate to push more rock into the bed..

Long story short, the rock (on any truck) likes to fall into the crack between the bed and tailgate. Because the right side fell off it's little stopper, even more went down.

Why not just take the tailgate off to unload? I hauled 1 1/4 ton of stone in 2 loads and didnt have that problem because when I went to unload I took the tailgate off. It is easy to do - and so avoid rocks getting stuck in there.

[bvstone1]

Ya, next time I'll be sure to stuff towels or something in the space. I did use a tarp, but it didn't cover the entire gap.

Or, I'll just use a trailer. Felt like I was riding a wheelie all the way home.. LOL!