How To Take The Bow Out Of A Tailgate

I am slowly working my way through the issues with my 2003 GMC sierra Denali and one issue I found is that the tail gate is bowed. Normally this would not be an issue except that on this model there is a brake light tucked up above and behind the bumper below the tail gate so that with the bow in the tail gate it hits the light bar. As I got it the light bar had been broken off and was dangling behind the bumper (found it when I put the new bumper on)

My question is how do you take the bow out of a tail gate with out completely trashing it? The one I have is not show quality at all but it is not rusted and fits the truck. I was thinking of putting the gate on two 2x4's and standing / jumping on it (carfully) but I don't want to put a big dent in the outside of it.

Any suggestions on how to take the bow out of a tailgate?

i have done 4x4's or other padded with moving blankets in the past then lightly bounced on the other side.

then one time i accidentally ran my tailgate over, which was smashed in. it made it straight again, but it was still smashed.

I have a pretty sizable bow in my tailgate and would love to correct it.

Awaiting successful suggestions as well!

Have you tried looking into paintless dent removal?

In reply to G_Body_Man:

I don't think that's going to help. The entirety of the tailgate is bowed, inside panel and exterior panel. The crux of the situation is bending it back without damaging the exterior panel.

I would maybe try laying the tailgate down on two 4x4's placed at the short sides. The wrap two long 4x4's in a blanket or something protective and place them at the top and bottom of the tailgate where the interior and exterior panels come together and either together or separately jump on it. That way you are putting the pressure where it needs to bend and hopefully not caving in the center where nothing is between them. Or roadtrip for a southern junkyard tailgate.

In general, collision repair is done in reverse of how the damage was done. Which in this case would mean the bed side of the tailgate would have to be pulled forward. Pushing from the outside will most likely make things worse given how thin the outer panels are.

All that said, bowed tailgates are almost always replaced.

Crackers wrote: Which in this case would mean the bed side of the tailgate would have to be pulled forward.

Yes but given that it's a double panel I don't see that turning out too good. Unless you separated the interior and exterior panels and worked on them individually... Of course I don't know how badly the bow is, I'm picturing it being pretty bad in my mind.

There's really no good way to do it, hence why they are almost always replaced.

You'd have to weld pull points along the top and bottom and work it back incrementally.

I'd bet you could do it safely with an engine hoist. Use some wood blocks to put downward force on the ends of the tailgate. Slide the tailgate under the hoist with the cargo side up and use the hoist to do the stretching.

Steel bar across the inside of the bowed panel. Another piece of steel across the outside of the curve cushioned with a piece of wood. About 10 big C clamps.

space the inner piece of steel off the panel because you are going to have to push back across the neutral zone due to spring-back.

It is bowed out a bit more than an inch in the center at the bottom.

I actually did not figure out what was going on at first. The top is much less bowed

I am going to have to experiment with this. If I trash it I can get another decent one for about $300 or so.

It us interesting that these don't seem to rust as there are quite a few of them in yards around here. I will however have to look carefully at them to see if the are equally as bowed.

if you are going to support it on the ends and add weight in the middle, I would add some sort of lower support to the middle so that it does not bow too far back.

Know anyone with a backhoe? Stick a 2x4 under each end and a couple of them across the bow. Have him shove the bucket down on it till it bottoms out. Hold it there for 15 min so it takes a set. Rinse and repeat.

Keep your eyes open for a beat to crap or rusted truck like yours that has a straight tailgate and ask the owner if they would be willing to swap their good one for your bent one plus $50..

Sledgehammer time. With some kind of padding.

It works.

After dealing with a bent gate on my last F250, I learned the following:

Easier to replace than repair.
OEM tailgates weigh about twice what an aftermarket "Sortafit" one does.