How strong is the tailgate

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J

John Zuber

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Anyone know what the rating is of the tailgate straps? Thinking of loading my motorcycle which would also involve me walking up a ramp with the bike. I'm only 160lbs, but the bike is also 450lbs..if one of those cables gave out, it would be a bad day. Maybe I can add an additional cable. I do have an additional attachment point..I added that so that the gate can be held at a 45 degree opening. Any ideas?
 
You will be fine. I put my KTM 250 in the bed and I weighed almost 280 at the time. I doubt you will be sitting on the bike when putting it in anyways, and you will really only have the weight of one wheel on the tailgate at a time.



 
Dude no worries Ive uh driven my quad up the back into the bed no problem.

The hard tonneau cover can hold me and 3 friends dancing on so its strong as well.

HAHA Thought Id put that in there :banana:
 
Ford rates the tailgate at 200 lbs, but I suspect that may apply to the the limits where you might damage the tailgates plastic inside liner, however I'm sure the cables will tollerate a lot more than that. I have had three 200 lbs guys sitting on my tailgate with no problem.



...Rich
 
Well... I am 6'4'' and weigh 425lbs, yes 425lbs. Just the other day I was standing on it AS WELL as lifting a 160lbs 15g drum onto the back of my baby. Hell if it can hold me and that drum you *should* be ok. Granted I wasn't standing on the very edge of the tailgate though. :eek:
 
The cables are plastic wrapped braided steel.. If I had to guess each one of those would be good for about 1500lbs tensile strength. Don't worry about it, load up the SV and do what you gotta do.
 
JD,

I agree that the cables are stout enough to hold over 1000 lbs each, however I'm guessing the cable end clips that are crimped on to the cable might be considerabley weaker. If one of the end clips broke or came off the results would be the same as the cable breaking.



I'mm guessing that the tailgate could hold 800-1000 lbs as long as the load was not bouncing too much. Ratings for cable strength always includes a safety factor which is about half of what it could really hold, but I suspect the limits are based on the cable end clips ability to stay attached to the cable.



...Rich

 
how are you going to "walk" the bike up the ramp into the bed of the ST?? You might try finding a ditch/slope, etc., you can put the ST in, and then drive the bike into the bed, might be easier, or even a loading dock that matches the height of the bed, those ramps scare me.
 
Bah ramps aren't that bad, just have a second person to help. My wife and I have loaded and unloaded my bike countless times on a ramp.



Back in the day I used to load and unload in my dakota with a wooden ramp, now thats scary.
 
I agree that the cables are stout enough to hold over 1000 lbs each, however I'm guessing the cable end clips that are crimped on to the cable might be considerabley weaker. If one of the end clips broke or came off the results would be the same as the cable breaking.



Richard..that's exactly what I'm worried about. I trust the cable, but not the clips. I'm thinking of installing a "seconday" set of cables (different length and attachment points) just in case. However, after reading Mr. Lunchbox post I must say that I feel somewhat better.

 
I frequently haul our 2 dirt bikes (YZ250 & XR25R) and I found that the cables are holding fine, but the spindle on the left side of the truck bed that the tailgate pivots on started to bend. My solution was to use a piece of 3/4" plywood cut to fit. This spreads the load out and relieves the constant pounding on the tailgate. I forgot the plywood outside one night and it warped into a slight "u" shape. This worked out perfectly. I now put "U" facing up and I can now actually move the tailgate with the bikes loaded. IMO if you haul this big bike around alot, you will cause this piece to bend.
 
Yes the tailgate may only be able to hold 1000pds directly but think about the amount of weight being dispersed throughout the ramp. The ramp is on the ground therefore distributing approximately half the weight on the ground until the front end is in the truck then half the weight of the bike is on the bed and not the tailgate.



Makes sense to me so I see absolutely no reason to doubt it.

Especially if your using a wide ramp to disperse the weight compared to a tire width bike ramp.

But again I have no problems w/ my dirt bike or quad.



Maybe my track is stronger than all yalls :lol:
 
I out my 450R quad and my GSX-R 750, not at the same time though, the bed is too small :( in it and never had any problems. I have even stood on it with my wife when the bike was in it. I am 300 and she is 160.
 

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