RE: Stealing Dakotas Tailgates

From: Walter Felix (Walter_Felix@classic.msn.com)
Date: Tue May 05 1998 - 13:54:01 EDT


There are locks available for the handle. In order to remove the tailgate you
have to lower it to about a 45 degree angle. The lock prevents someone from
opening the gate from the closed position by blocking the handle.

Walter_Felix@MSN.COM
88' Dodge Dakota Sport 4x4.
http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Downs/9219

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-dakota-truck@buffnet4.buffnet.net On Behalf Of Jon Steiger
Sent: Monday, May 04, 1998 7:11 PM
To: dakota-truck@buffnet.net
Subject: Re: DML: Stealing Dakotas

  Speaking of stealing Dak's, has anyone noticed how easy it
is to get the tailgate off? I took mine off the other day
to get part of it painted (thanks to my stupid Mopar bed
liner) and that thought occured to me.

   Someone could have your tailgate off in 5 seconds or
less; no tools required. If you've got a brake light in
yours, it would take an extra second or two to slice the
wires.

  Anyone know of a good method for locking the tailgate?
I'm putting a fiberglass tonneau cover on mine, and I wanted
to be able to lock the tailgate so I could secure the bed,
but I'm especially interested now that I've seen how easy
it is to remove the tailgate!

  At the moment, I'm thinking of an electric lock of some
type that can be mounted inside the bed; I'm thinking
of maybe incorporating a keyless remote or something in
addition to a toggle switch or something in the cab. I've
got to find some sort of electrical gadget that'll push and
pull a pin though. Another thought I had was something that
would block the action of the handle, rather than physically
locking the gate with a pin. Haven't quite figured out
a nice way to do either of these though.

                                              -Jon-

  .--- stei0302@cs.fredonia.edu ------------------------------------.
  | DoD# 1038, EAA# 518210, NMA# 117376, USUA# A46209, RP-SEL |
  | '96 Dodge Dakota v8 SLT CC (15.34@89.10), '96 Kolb FireFly 447 |
  `----------------------- http://www.cs.fredonia.edu/~stei0302/ ---'



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