Posted by Keith in Washington [24.41.55.51] on Saturday, July 25, 2015 at 16:03:09 :
In Reply to: Dodge carryall tailgate latch questions posted by Bruce in BC [24.207.99.230] on Saturday, July 25, 2015 at 00:38:43 :
Bruce:
I used my original latches on my carry all.. I totally rebuilt the piece that mounts to the body. Those pieces do wear. the parts on the upper and lower tailgate do not wear.
To rebuild the latch on the body I replaced the rod that the cams mount to. They wears at the pivot points on the mounting bracket. Steel rod from the hardware store. I also rebuilt the mounting brackets. The holes in the brackets will wear oblong. Like the door hinges, I marked the original center of the holes on the mounting bracket with a chisel then welded the holes shut, ground the welds then redrilled the holes using the chisel marks to get them into the correct location.
They have been in service for 15 years. Not a rattle in the tailgate and they work smoothly. When I shut the tailgates they compress the rubber seals and then the latches keep them tight against the seals.
In my opinion it is not worth the trouble to retro fit something else in. I also used the original door latches with new mechanisms that I bought from VPW.