What tailgate hooks for 39 truck?

[petehoovie]

Originally Posted by GB SISSON

In the picture on the right I see you poked the hook through from the top. They tend to pop out when hitting a pot hole, specially on stiffly sprung. empty tonners. In my 30s, an old guy at a jobsite taught me that if you introduce the hook up from the bottom they stay put. So now I get to be the old guy. I bet some of the repro pickup box guys sell the correct parts, but most stuff is sold for 1/2 tons, I have a half ton too so will check length of chain tomorrow. My guess is you would buy the 1/2 ton set and use longer chain or add a link or two. Bear with us, we'll have this figured out tomorrow. I do have a pic I took of my 1/2 ton yesterday. Not a close up but when I expand it you can see the top link with the crossbar. This top link is a very ingenious design. It snaps around the offset eye on the tailgate before the hook is inserted. The long top link, when both sides are latched ensures that even with extreme pressure from heavy grain or sand load, the bed sides cannot spread outwards. The hook carries none of this outward force, it just keeps that top link in place.