gmt800 tailgates suck

They are heavier than square and gmt400 tailgates, bulkier for no reason, they use the same trunnion/hinge design as 1980s squares and gmt 400 (which is fine, just no improvement either), they use the same cables as gmt400, and the handles are chincier than gmt400 (how is that possible) and the latches are junk, I havent opened mine yet but im guessing its no more accessible to the inside as gmt400 tailgates.

Then there is that stupid cap on the silverados(not the sierras?) too.

UH, @AuroraGirl ,what happened to illicit such an outburst??!!!

idahovette said:

UH, @AuroraGirl ,what happened to illicit such an outburst??!!!

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A gmt800 tailgate deciding it was too good to latch. In trying to get it to latch I was inspecting it and observed how heavy it is(I frequently remove a square body tailgate and 96 f150(comparable but slightly heavier than squarebody tailgate) and the gmt 800 isn’t per se heavier but it’s significantly cheaper/delicate and about twice as thick(from one face to the other) with nothing to show for it.

Mine has worn out bushings on the tailgate trunnuons but I can tell they are not the OEM ones, which means the OEM ones wore out for my step dad who owned it before me


I lifted my floor jack into the bed over the bedside when I went to go do my aunts oxygen sensor, but i lowered it to put it back in(tired) and I regret that.

Common problem. Is the plastic worn out or missing from the striker pin? When the gate is open can you make the latch in the gate lock closed. Parts get worn and the striker pin does push the gate latch to lock.

Remove the taillight and adjust the the striker pin out some. Rusty pins do not like to be adjusted.

ill go check, know i got it to latch eventually. I could play with the tailgate side and it did its thing. Im wondering if its not the pins, because worn bushings on the hinge would essentially turn the pin into a hinge, and if i had to bet id say the latch has harder metal than the easy-to-change-pin (ford used a bushing kinda like the squarebody door latches striker does) And that all could wear the pin more especially while driving normally (rattling up and down, slight rotation)

Uhg I hate this tailgate,im going ot go out in this mild portion of this snow storm and undo the 3 bolts behind the handle and then see what is going on because the right side cable yanks the latch and opens, but its so... sluggish and not free moving. And the left side is just like 'F u" so im done being nice. ive noticed the strikers appear worn as crap, kinda like the door strikes get on squares.

Fixed it for now. The latches clearly have damage from being slammed into the strikers unsuccessfully often for probably years. I took the 3 bolts off from the handle, and took the bezel out. turns out the handle was pulling but it barely moved th ends. I used some deep creep on the center pivot for the rods that clip on (I think i appears to work similar to the gmt 400 handle in this way)
My righht side clip holding the rod was about ot fall apart and barely moved. Getting it to free up actually finshed off the clip. Idk if I can buy them or not but the fix was 2 zip ties securing the rod to the handle for now after freeing up the handles pivots as best I could. Could use new strikers and the latches, but for now they work. I sprayed them liberally with deep creep and will follow up because it was snowing heavily when I finished, so I want to make sure no ice builds up.

Turbo4whl said:

Common problem. Is the plastic worn out or missing from the striker pin? When the gate is open can you make the latch in the gate lock closed. Parts get worn and the striker pin does push the gate latch to lock.

Remove the taillight and adjust the the striker pin out some. Rusty pins do not like to be adjusted.

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based on how thin the spacer/bushing is, I bet the striker was never in an ideal location for the tailgate since it was new and any and all use quickly wore it away, because even now the striker is showing great amounts of wear on only part of the striker, but none 180° away from the wear. Tells me it wasnt in the right spot.

with new latches and bolts/bushings, as well as plastic bushings for the trunnions, hopefully it will be become
a decent tailgate setup. My step dad already replaced the trunnion pieces so I just need the inserts and there will be peace in our time After looking for inserts.. Im having trouble. Did GM seriously just make the clearance between the trunnions/hige pieces smaller so they dont use bushings anymore.. They still wear metal on metal and they rattle!!! GM I question you so much

Fastduramax said:

Lost track of this number system over the years, I believe my 07 was the 400 platform correct

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07 would be gmt900

Honestly it’s not GMT800 tailgates suck. Its crusty old work truck beat up rusted with wore out hardware tailgates suck.
Not a brand or model specific tailgate affliction.
Glad you got it working.

Grit dog said:

Honestly it’s not GMT800 tailgates suck. Its crusty old work truck beat up rusted with wore out hardware tailgates suck.
Not a brand or model specific tailgate affliction.
Glad you got it working.

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The hardware is clearly chinsy. However, the tailgate exoskeleton itself is higher quality than the closest thing I Have to compare it to, (obs ford) I use this to compare because the ford tailgate uses the exact same catch/striker /trunnion(hinge) The ford has a heavier, but weaker tailgate. Their latches are infinitely superior tho. The gmt 800 despite my annoyances has weigh more rigidity than tbe f150,it has almost no center folding in from heavy people/thigns

From what I read and see elsewherre, the latches are pretty universally bad for a lot of people, but the strikers tend to be fine for most and the whole striker iwth a new bushing is cheap, vs ford you buy the bushing and install it onto the striker (kinda like you can do for squarebody door striker). The trunnions tend to wear out bad for gmt 800 too, but it seems to be that without the intention to use plastic bushings like gmt 400, squares, fords, and dodges, that they wear into eachother quickly. Im going to see if I cant find a way to get a plastic piece to work on each side somehow to create a wear point thats quicker to swap out.

The door handle to rods havign the plastic clip.. thats low quality, but I believe the gmt 400 did the exact same ssetup so its not "new" for the gmt800 by means. Ford also does plastic clips in their OBS tailgates, however, they are acessed through a panel that spans the width of the tailgate and I think that panel is why the gmt800 is stronger, it has no cutout that compromises the strength and the clips are serviceable next to the handle which is 3 13mm bolts to access vs like 12 perimeter torx screws lol..