[rindy991]

im new to the titan forum, and let me first say thankyou for all the info you have shared on here. i have a tailgate question. i have just purchased a 2008 kingcab longbox se 4x4, and the previous owner had the tailgate buckle in half while loading his 4wheeler in the truck going up the ramps. when i talked to the dealer i was told that these tailgates are very cheeply made, and cant withstand the 900lbs of the wheeler and plus add the weight of the rider. he said toyota also had this problem and rectified it back in 2005. the answer i was givin to fix this is to leave a sheet of plywood on the floor and slide it out to the end of the tailgate b4 loading.. i havent picked the truck up yet from the dealer yet, as im waiting for the tailgate and the rear bumper to come in(when the tailgate failed, wheeler and rider rolled over tweeking the bumper and dented the bottom corner of the box) and then it has to be painted to match the truck. any 1 else have this issue with the rear gate?it literally caved in upward like a mountain peak for a lack of a better way to describe it. im guessing at that point it allowed the bottom hinges to come off and he went *** over tea kettle.
also, was just curious how many miles people have on there engines. i have had several toyota trucks and had over 250,000 miles on them and the only issue was making sure you kept the timing chain or belt, according to what year it was, changed when it should be. otherwise no issues. how about these titans? anything to watch for or problems? i, as is the previous owner, am an avid outdoorsman and will have a 900lb wheeler in the back of this 80% of the time also so i really need to find out if an aftermarket tailgate would be stronger than an oem replacement(not sure what they are sending). ive never had a problem with any other truck doing this,cant believe i should have to carry extra stuff so i can load a wheeler. thanks for any info, as i paid for the truck a week ago, and havent even really drove it yet. 50,000 miles on it, paid 16 grand for it. sound like a decent deal? thats a little less than bluebook showed(about 2500 less)

 

[rindy991]

thanks for all the replies fellas, i appreciate it. doesnt sound like any of you that replied have had the problem. from what i could see it was not a pin or cable failure, it looked like right where your atv tires would travel when you come up the ramp and the front tires transistion from ramp to tailgate it caved down under tire pressure, pushing the section between the wheels up, thus letting the gate to squeeze in enough for it to come off the the bottom swivels the bottom of the gate swivels on. i only looked at the truck several times, and hopefully will be able to pick it up from the dealer today(rear bumper still on backorder, and they want to replace that,the gate and fix the dented fender at the same time. so today will be the 1st time i have really got to drive the truck. im sure im going to miss my dakota r/t i traded in on it. it was a blast in the summer, but winter has sucked with it as far as traction. i guess no more eatin camaros, birds, and vettes light to light.
im not going to be a happy camper when the new tailgate gets here and i end up tipping my kawasaki brute force off it. i hope it was just a fluke for the other guy, but the same machine, so we will see.

 

[rindy991]

I've done the same thing with my Kodiak 450 with absolutely no problems. The tailgate on the Titan is heavy (my "gas assisted" system broke on mine, so I don't have that luxury anymore). That being said, I don't have any concerns of the tailgate buckling on me anytime soon...

appreciate the reply. im still gonna have to watch it. your 450 is half the size of the brute, pluss i have a salter/sander on the back and 28 inch rubber. close to double the weight of yours without the accesories. if i can get in ok ill be alright as this is a longbox and i wont have to worry about it sitting on the gate going down the road