2008 Silverado 1500, somebody stole my tailgate. I've gone online and for the most part $400 for a new one and another $400 to have it painted.

I've searched local salvage yards with not much luck. They're asking $625 for a used one.

 

your best bet imo is to find someone parting out who has the same paint colour. May take a while but this is the cheapest route. Then find a tailgate lock.

 

Thanks, I checked prices at JC Whitney was told that if locking tailgate wasn't factory installed that you can't change from a non-locking tailgate. Not sure why

 

you can buy an aftermarket lock for any tailgate.

 

I found a tailgate in a salvage yard for a 2007 model, I was told 2007-2013 was the same gate. However apparently not as it will not fit. The problem is with the left lower hinge on my truck. It's bigger than the hole in the gate I picked up at the salvage yard and will not fit into the opening on the tailgate. A simple fix would be to take the hinges off the salvage yard truck but it's not that easy. I had to drive 5 hours to a salvage yard in Houston to get the gate in another vehicle thinking it was the same.

Bottom line is can you buy the smaller size hinges? I went to the dealer and they weren't much help wanting a vin number off the salvage yard truck....I have several salvage yards close to me but none have a gate. I did go by and checked some of the old trucks they have but either the hinge is the same size as mine or a different style all together.

The yard in Houston is typical of a salvage yard, you buy it as is and they're not much help. Asked them to take a picture of the hinge on the truck the gate came off with and they said they're to busy to see if I need top make another trip to remove and use those. They refuse to take pictures and they don't ship.

A new aftermarket tailgate kit including all hinges etc is $400 and they want $450 to paint it, overall with tax $900 Paid $250 for salvage yard tailgate. I guess you get what you pay for.

Thanks