where to find 3rd gen tailgate?

[VolsFan]

Hi, I have posted a handful of things in the 3rd gen section in the past for my dads 03 and it has been helpful. Now Im looking for a tailgate for his 03 3500. Been looking for sometime, craigslist, junkyards and such, with no luck. Every gate I see for sale has dents or has some serious rust issues. His gate is rusted out bad, and it seems like this is a common problem on 3rd gens. I had not seen it in a while and went with him to pull a well pump today and it looks horrible! Its a nice ride, but looks bad with the rusted gate. I thought about the ones from rockauto but unsure of the quality of them, Ive had bad experiences with foreign auto body parts. Any info is appreciated, thanks.

 

[p-Bar]

I bought one new non-oem painted my color on ebay . Works for me

 

[Missouri Mule]

It's a long shot but Dodge mite have few.

 

[VolsFan]

p-bar, what vendor did you use on e-bay? Thats pretty good it came painted, how was shipping prices? Never thought about checking with dodge, worth a shot, they have surprised me before on obscure parts and being somewhat reasonable. Also, what are the model years that will work on an 03?

 

[p-Bar]

Let me see what i can find I will post a link for you

here ya go:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-PAINTED...Parts_Accessories&hash=item51a038d799&vxp=mtr

refined search you will need to go through though:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?LH_I...t=0&_from=R40&_nkw=tailgate dodge ram&_fscr=1

 

[DZink24]

i'd say that any year from '03-'07 should work, and possibly even 4th gens as well. i believe that even 1500 gates will fit as well. if the worst rust is happening on the lower portion of the tailgate like mine was, get yourself a nice piece of stainless diamond plate to the dimensions of i believe 53 1/2" by 3 1/2", and use self tapping SS screws to hold it on. it looks great and is a very inexpensive fix.

 

[VolsFan]

thanks for the responses, been traveling all over the place with work and been on the look out for a nice used 3rd gen gate and not been seeing them. I saw a tailgate from a 2011 truck for sale that matches my dads truck, do you all know if it will fit his 3rd gen? Price is fair at 175. Also, his gate is rusting out on the lower portion, but it is so bad that it is beyond repair for what it is worth.