Toyota Tundra Forum

I joined the ranks of the failed tailgate group last week. My truck is a 4X4, R/C, L/B, 11,000 miles, built in Texas. No pics at the moment. The tailgate has bowed in the middle at the base and the cracks have begun on the top right and left.

I had loaded my Kawasaki Concurs in the bed and hauled it to the Trinity River. While there I loaded a Honda ATV for a short trip. I reloaded the Kawasaki again for the trip home and that is when I noticed the failure.

I will be getting in touch with the dealer soon. Is there a stronger replacement available yet?

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2007 Tundra RC LB SR5 5.7L 4x4, Tekonsha Prodigy Brake Controller, JCW Side Bars, AMP BedStep, 12K+miles and no problems besides the tailgate beginning to fail.

Yes, they have a stronger tailgate now. The new one has a couple of welds on the sides and an extra brace in the middle (internally).

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2007 SR5 Crewmax 5.7L 4x4
Mods: nerf bars, Truxedo tonneau, radar detector power, 3M clear bra, fog lights, black billet grille, rear differential breather, parking sensors, Line-X, power tailgate lock, hood safety latch mod, one off driving lights behind grille, Pioneer NAV w/ OEM camera, Flowmaster 50 SUV dual/dual, blue LED dash lights, Volant CAI, Llumar tint, CompuStar Pro alarm, ProComp 6066 20" wheels, Cooper Zeon LTZ 275/60/20 tires, OME HD coilover lift, Firestone helper air bags, stereo cable lock, Tekonsha P3 brake controller
All mod descriptions and pictures © 2007-2009 by Toxarch. They may be copied only for personal use and the mods may be done for non-profit only.

Thanks Toxarch, that is good news. I called the local dealer today and he was not aware of a recall, TSB, or a stronger tailgate. Is there a part number for the stronger tailgate or some reference I can refer the service department to? I will be taking my truck into the dealer later this week to show them the failed tailgate.

I will be keeping my fingers crossed for a positive result. I told the service rep. that I did not want to replace the existing tailgate with another one that was not adequate. He said I should not wait to bring it in and get the failure documented. So that is what I will be doing. I will post the results.

Have your dealer call his Yoda service rep... I promise you that he/she will be aware of the tailgate issue!

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2007 Tundra Limited Double Cab 4x4 Super White
Volant CAI
Pioneer AVIC Z-2 (hard drive upgrade to AVIC Z-3)
Key FOB Tailgate Lock (courtesy of Toxarch)
OEM back-up camera w/flip down monitor microswitch mod
Sirius Satellite Radio
WeatherTech Floor Liners
20" OEM alloy wheels
Line-X Bed liner
UWS Black Powdercoat Low Profile Toolbox
DU-HA underseat storage unit
JC Whitney Black Nerf Bars
Lund Interceptor II Bug Shield
Tekonsha Voyager Brake Controller

There is no recall or TSB. And all the tailgates made after the 2007 model year were made stronger. Like rarjar said, his Toyota rep should know about it. If not, there are other people who have had it replaced under warranty. Maybe we can get their warranty repair numbers or something to show the Toyota rep.

Any hope to replace before failure. Just curious about any examples. Probably get the runaround at the dealer.

There are pictures in the following thread including fixes and I think reports about the change in the tailgates from 07 to 08.
http://www.toyotatundraforum.com/gen...tail-gate.html

Thanks TOX!

Friday morning I took the Tundra in to the dealer along with a few pages from the forum to show other reported failures. Concord Toyota was not aware of the tailgate failures and will be getting back to me about how the claim will be handled. I hope to hear from them early next week.

While I was there I looked at several new truck tailgates on the lot and didn't see one that looked like it might be any stronger than mine. I was looking for evidence of spot welds or beads of welds.

Do any of you have specifics of what to look for or what I might see when looking at an improved or stronger tailgate?

There were some obvious fixes in the early repaired tailgates. They put a weld on the seam and then covered it before they painted it. There might have been pics later in that other thread. I don't know if they are still doing it the same.