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Wed Jul 02, 2008 9:54 am

What to do with rusty gates in SC? Could anybody put some pics how to do metal work? In my SC they aren't straight and they have many dents and rusty places.
Thanks

Wed Jul 02, 2008 10:28 am

Truck gates get rusty at the bottoms, and bowed out. The hinges, particluarly on the tailgate, get jacked up. When you open and close the gates, it tends to sound like a rainstick with all the rust particles falling around in there.
Seems like almost all could use help to some extent or another

Here are some threads about truck gates:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/search.php?search..._chars=200

Wed Jul 02, 2008 12:10 pm

Step 1: remove gates carefully and do not mess up the nut plates.
Step 2: pick up phone, call gerson, place order for new gates.
Step 3: install new gates and smile as you drive down the road in style.
Step 4: (optional) practice metal work on your old gates.

8)

Wed Jul 02, 2008 1:15 pm

The gates on my 59 dc need rust repair on the lower portion. I bought repair channels from schweinhagen to do this job but am leaving it for last. I want to master the art of shrinking sheet metal before attempting to do so on my gates. I believe gerson sells the repair channels. John Kelly sells videos teaching sheet metal shrinking, but IMHO you will want to practice on a few items before you try doing the gates. Good luck.

Wed Jul 02, 2008 6:57 pm

I've restored 2 sets of gates this year, for a single and a double. They are a big time pita. I've probably got 60-80 hours each in both sets and they were not that bad really, a little rust repair and lots of dings, but looked good as og restorable parts. They still look a little rough, even after blasting ($), repairs, primer and paint. The gates really took the punishment on trucks and are rough to fix. The Geson repros are certainly worth considering, unless you're a masochist like me...

Wed Jul 09, 2008 3:26 am

Thx for yours advices about gates. I will try to do all the best I can. This is my tailgate from SC. Now I'm waiting for metalsheets to repair them. I will blast them also.
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