Working on a custom tailgate for my ranger where the older gen Ford stamped skin is grafted on a newer gen tailgate. Ive seen it done by a couple members on here before but the first time I saw it was on Pasquals Sema show truck. Loved it as soon as I saw it and figured Id make a thread on how I do it. I also have a video series which goes into detail on the process. Anyways below are some teasers.

 

Slow progress but shes all tacked and getting fully welded in

 

Small update but slowly trying to metal finish things

 

I've been following this on YouTube, and this looks great Paul! I just watched the "Part 2" that you posted recently. I'm curious how you're going to open/unlatch the modified tailgate. Are you going to slot the sheetmetal to match the original handle?
Thanks,
Rick

 

Hey Rick,

Thanks for following along glad youre enjoying it. Im going to install one of those tailgate flip kits. A few people sell them so Il probably buy one or maybe Il decide to try fab up one myself. This kit moves the handle to the other side of the tailgate, its usually used when people "shave" their tailgate and want it all smooth.

 

Here is the finished metal work along with part 2 of the video series if anyone is interested in seeing how it was done.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CSmS9B6DkNs&t=3s

 

That modification adds so much character to an otherwise bland back end on the newer Rangers! I located an old tailgate a couple of hours away and I'm headed there this weekend to pick it up and start this same upgrade. My plan for a while on my 2000 stepside has been to take advantage of the body lines to do a two-tone paint job to mimic the late '60's and early '70's Chevy C-10's. This mod will tie in perfectly with that look. Thanks again for the idea, and the video!

 

Thanks again for the idea, and the "how to" videos Paul. Here's my copycat project where I blatantly steal your idea. I'm currently building an old '49 Mercury woody wagon that needs some welding/bodywork, so I thought this tailgate project would give me some good practice. In my case, I've got a 2000 Stepside. So, before I could even start cutting out the old outer skin and dropping in the new one I had to remove 9" of width.

 

You did an awesome job! And to make that to fit a stepside was Im sure much more work, props to you. I still have to body work mine but I think Il put it in primer soon to avoid any rust on the bare metal

 

Just got the Ranger back together after having a local shop do a (reasonably) affordable one-part paint job on it. For a background, I bought it a couple of years ago for my daily driver. I was just looking for a low-mileage truck with some important (to me) features. I wasn't looking for a stepside, but when this came up it checked all of my boxes. It was in overall very nice shape, but it had a couple of paint areas where the factory paint had failed. The biggest area was right by the drivers door handle where I saw it EVERYTIME opened the door. So, a paint job was in it's future, but since this truck is always gonna get parked outside I didn't want to get carried away. Looking at the body lines on Rangers from these years, I couldn't help thinking how cool it'd look with a '70's Chevy C10 style two-tone paint job. When I saw Paul's video I knew that would make that look even better. I still have to do some black pinstriping along the color-change lines. Right now, the transition from white-to-blue is too harsh, I used some black pinstripe tape for visualizing and it looks WAY better. I'll post pix once I do that. I just wanted to thank you again Paul, for the idea and the how-to video.

 

Looks great. Love the way it came out.