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Any recomendations for a louvered tailgate?

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Truck Camper and 2500 '05???

GN vice 5th wheel for "camping"

Folks,

Looking to purchase a louvered tailgate for my 5th. wheel. I've looked at many and don't know what is quality or what is cheap?

I like the ones that act like a tailgate when opening and closing.

Any recomendations?

thanks,
 
CW is where we got ours.



The BS part of the sales pitch is they claim to save fuel. with the trailer on they may. without the trailer switch back to your stock tailgate
 
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PatrickCampbell said:
What is the point of one of these? :confused:



Mostly to avoid ramming the king pin into your tailgate if you forget to put it down. Which I almost did more than once.

Also what I have been told, is that it eliminates the vacuum caused by the 5er in your box to prevents everything lite stored from flying out.
 
PatrickCampbell said:
What is the point of one of these? :confused:

well not speaking for everyone that went out and bought one. I purchased ours due to extreem carnage created when I failed to lower the tailgate and let the slider do it's job :eek:
 
PatrickCampbell said:
What is the point of one of these? :confused:



Someone here once posted: "There are two kinds of people - those that have hit their tailgate with the king pin and those that are going to do it".



I have a good "checklist" but there have been a couple of close calls... .



Juan
 
When I had my factory gate while pulling my 5th wheel, everything not tied down would fly everywhere, liked stated above. This is not the reason I bought it. My reason is the OTHER one stated above.



I was getting ready to move one evening and backed under the trailer. I thought I was perfectly over the ball so I jumped out to lower the trailer. I slammed the gate shut and started to lower the trailer. I was a little off so I jumped in to move forward a tad when my sandle got stuck under the brake pedal and the gate slammed into the gooseneck. m****r f****r!!
 
Well, I did what TRAMPLINEMAN did except it was to my "GREAT DEAL from eBay" Handy 5er gate. :{

3 good things: 1) My stock gate was safely at home. 2) I was able to bend the Handy gate back into shape. 3) It didn't rip the striker pins out of the bedsides so no damage at all to the bed.

To me, they are worth every penny if you do NOT need to replace your stock gate due to a brain fart.

Needless to say, I am going to adjust my hitch and pin up to the next setting so it won't happen again. Just needed that extra inch... Oh well.

As far a fuel milage, it doesn't matter because I still use my Tuff Tonno III with the 5er gate in the summer. I don't think the Cummins cares one way or another.
 
heh, yeah. When I was working on the road I did some gooseneck towing. Well, one kid desided he was going to snag (my work truck, not my personal). and go unhook the goose and use the truck to drive around with. Well, he got everthing undone and forgot about the gate.



I hear this BANG!, turn around, and start laughing my butt off!. He was slightly upset :). Tail gate jammed good!, wasn't going to fall off so I just hooked it all back up and took it to the shop after the snow. From what I heard, saw-zaws were used to remove the gate. Entire bed and gate replaced.
 
Don't worry I have done worse. I forgot to lock the coupler on my gooseneck and drove 50 miles that way. I went to go load a car onto it and when the car when on the ramp, it levered the gooseneck off the ball, slide forward and slammed the neck of the gooseneck into my tailgate. At least it stopped it from hitting my cab :) This was the 2nd day I had ever pulled this trailer and have learned a lot since. Make mistakes and learn from them. I now put wheel chocks before AND after my trailer tires when loading vehicles, truck gets the e-brake all the way on and left in gear/shut off.



So are louvered tailgates forgiving or is it just that they aren't worth as much as your factory tailgate when you bash them up?? Oo.
 
PatrickCampbell said:
Don't worry I have done worse. I forgot to lock the coupler on my gooseneck and drove 50 miles that way. I went to go load a car onto it and when the car when on the ramp, it levered the gooseneck off the ball, slide forward and slammed the neck of the gooseneck into my tailgate. At least it stopped it from hitting my cab :) This was the 2nd day I had ever pulled this trailer and have learned a lot since. Make mistakes and learn from them. I now put wheel chocks before AND after my trailer tires when loading vehicles, truck gets the e-brake all the way on and left in gear/shut off.



So are louvered tailgates forgiving or is it just that they aren't worth as much as your factory tailgate when you bash them up?? Oo.



In gear and the parking break?



How about: Motor off, in reverse, 4x4lo, wheels turned to one side with a front locker enguaged, parking break on, exhaust break on and a lease around a tree?
 
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My recommendation is a companion tool box mounted behind the hitch and the tail gate removed & stored. Works for me.
 
PatrickCampbell said:
So are louvered tailgates forgiving or is it just that they aren't worth as much as your factory tailgate when you bash them up?? Oo.



They are a little more forgiving and definately easier to straighten. Oh yeah, and alot cheaper.
 
PatrickCampbell said:
Don't worry I have done worse. I forgot to lock the coupler on my gooseneck and drove 50 miles that way. I went to go load a car onto it and when the car when on the ramp, it levered the gooseneck off the ball, slide forward and slammed the neck of the gooseneck into my tailgate. At least it stopped it from hitting my cab :) This was the 2nd day I had ever pulled this trailer and have learned a lot since. Make mistakes and learn from them. I now put wheel chocks before AND after my trailer tires when loading vehicles, truck gets the e-brake all the way on and left in gear/shut off.



So are louvered tailgates forgiving or is it just that they aren't worth as much as your factory tailgate when you bash them up?? Oo.



Yea,

I watched a guy drop his kingpin and 5er inside/and on top of his box because it didn't latch properly. Sadly his 5 year old daughters bike was underneath the kingpin also. (OOPS!)

This poor guy was trying to evaluate the damage to his truck and trailer, and getting a severe tongue lashing from his daughter and wife at the same time. :-{}

I started to walk over to offer some help (brought a beer with me for him)

I got 2 steps and my wife said "you better let things calm down before you go"

So now you know why I'm looking for some recommendations BTW Thanks

I'd hate to see a guy walking at me with a beer assessing the damage to my rig! :{
 
Bought mine at CW also, have been happy with it. Has saved a lot of heart aches not having to worry about smashing my tail gate.
 
Thanks everyone!

I took your advice and checked out cw.

Did any of you get the custom flow premium tailgate?

If so, how do you like it?

I looks like what I'm looking for but it's pricey!
 
the No Rust Louvered Tailgate is what we got. less pricy, light weight. works ok.



The dog can now jump in. when the king pin is not in the way
 
I have the Vented Tailgate from Stromberg Carlson. Paid $150 + shipping. I like this style because it gives me much better visibility backing up (w/o the trailer). Saves a lot of bumpers that way. Here's a pic.



#ad




Here's a link to the MFG website. The model for the 3rd gens is VGD-02-100,
 
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BSchulte said:
Did any of you get the custom flow premium tailgate?

If so, how do you like it?

I looks like what I'm looking for but it's pricey!



That is the one I got. Ya, it's a bit pricey but it's been good to me.
 
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