Well, the fenders are in place, have some work to do on the welting and fastening to get them to fit. I ran into a huge issue. I bought a tailgate from someone out west that been dealing in IH parts for years and told them I need a 1950 to pre-56 tailgate for a travelall and he had one! Pefect! so I picked it up when I was out west last week at the Colorado Show. I never looked at it since they know parts the best, and better than me. Well.....its the wrong one
I have a couple options at this point since I have not had much help in the IH community coming up with one.
Here are my options that I see at this point!
1- Cut the sides down on the tailgate I bought about 1/2 inch, the tailgate is 1/2 to long for the opening. It is 6inches shorter, I could add some metal to the bottom of the top lift gate to fill in the gap. Hate to cut down a good tailgate especially if it can help someone else.. My guess, the one I got is 57-60? take a look at the pink picture below. Even if I did alter it, It would not have the feature line in it at the top, look at the blue pic and if I welded a piece of metal to the lift gate, not sure how it would line up. Hinge locations are different also and hardware locations.
2- Try to make a plywood tailgate, my old mans advice---hate that idea..
3- I have a 53 pick up cab I could cut the back out of the cab, use that as a skin, then try to build some sort of metal frame and build my own tailgate...that might be way over my skill level though. If I did that I would have that feature line at the top and should match up but I will have only one shot this is the only spare cab I have, i know where there are some parts trucks but 6 hours away. I do have another pre 56 complete truck but don't want to cut that cab up.
ANYONE GOT ANY OTHER IDEAS?
Attached are the pictures so yall can see what I am talking about the difference between the tailgates. The blue travelall is what I need. The pink travelall is what I bought.
I also am trying to find glass.. The 50-56 t-alls had sliders on the sides plus I don't have all rubber seals. I have checked with several glass companies and they are not interested in making/cutting. My local hardware will but it will be really thin...like single pain window glass. I need 6 side windows, rear window (55 or 56?) rear upper liftgate glass. Rear window is available on line...little pricey though.
Anyone got a rear bumper that would work?
