barn doors

[crazedhick3]

Can barn doors be added to a tailgate suburban rather easily?

[roundedline]

It depends on what year you are talking about.
73-79 usually have the hinge holes.
80-91, impossible without doing some serious fabrication.

Chris Lucas
www.73-87chevytrucks.com
www.captkaoscustoms.com
Project Su
Jimmy 2WD Project

[Lt.Del]

I would prefer a tailgate.  My 91 sub has barn doors and I don't like them.  I may one day consider doing whatever it takes to get a tailgate.  Be glad you have a tailgate.  

SgtDel
aka "Andy"

www.delbridge.net

1979 Big 10 383 stroker
1991 Blu 'Burb 3/4 ton 4x4

Edited by: SgtDel  at: 2/23/07 2:37 pm

[roundedline]

If you plan to swap setups on anything post 1978, figure on doing some serious sheetmetal work to the recipient.

Chris Lucas
www.73-87chevytrucks.com
www.captkaoscustoms.com
Project Su
Jimmy 2WD Project

[burboy]

OK, What's the last year that's hard to do?. One says 78? then the other said 80? I have a 79 and would like to go the bard door route.
Thanks in advance

[Captkaos]

It should be 78, but it is possible that a '79 could be done.  Which is why I (roundedline) posted "73-79 usually have the hinge holes."

All you have to do is look and see if the hinge holes are covered up on the back behind the gate.  If they are there, you can bolt on barn doors.  If not, well.....

[burboy]

Yea their there! Now the only thing holding me back is how to mount the latches to keep them closed. It's funny though, that everyone with the tailgate's wants barn doors and the people that have the barn doors want the tailgate's. Both have there pro's and con's though.

[Captkaos]

The latches are just bolted to the bottom of the floorboards.  If you get them from a donor you will see what I am talking about.  I would just reinforce the area and cut out an adjustment slot like the donor will have.

My '90 Burb has Barn Doors, I had a '78 with the tailgate.

[burboy]

Thanks Captkaos! By the way great board!

[Captkaos]

Thanks for the compliments.  Let us know how it goes.  In fact you can post a how to on a thread for the board and I will move it to the Technical pages.

[Lt.Del]

I mentioned earlier that I have barn doors and would prefer a tailgate.  You are correct when you mention both has its pros and cons.  The good thing about the barn doors I find is that when hauling a trailer/camper, you can easily open one side (or both) to get to something in the back.  With a tailgate, you can't put the tailgate down, for it will hit the crank on the tongue of the trailer.

However, when not pulling anything, I love to pop a tailgate and sit on it or use it as a work bench like my pickup truck.  I can't tell you how many times I cut lumber on the back of my pickup tailgate.   Tailgates are just instant seats. 

[Bill.K]

The area around the sides of the gate/door opening is made of three layers of metal, and to save a buck GM dropped the door provisions on tailgate models.

I did convert my 1989 to barn doors - kinda had to, since there was literally nothing to hold the tailgate on except the glass, the rear body support was rotted out badly. 

On the 1981-up models, only the middle of the three layers has the bolt holes.  If you make a template of the donor, it's easy to cut out the inner frame for the hinges and uncover them from this side.  The other side, if you remove the taillight, you can cut access to the lower side.

The top bolts are tougher.  I had to do mine in an emergency situation - I broke the tailgate window 75 miles from home and had no way to keep it on there - so I just cut two small access holes in the body pillar using sawzall and grinder.   This is probably the only way in there - done right, you could probably cut out a plate, then weld it back in later, but you will need to make a brace plate to go inside, weld nuts onto it, and weld it in place.  Alternately, you could cut the hinge mounts out on a donor truck.  But this has worked for 4 years on a beater truck, even though the doors only latch on the top. 


As someone who is loading and unloading a truck all the time, I'd rather have the doors than a tailgate sticking out to bang my knees on.

[Fordeatinz71]

ok, this is the exact opposite of the question i was gonna ask.  there is a guy on FSC that was asking about converting from barn doors to a tailgate on a '91 Suburban.  how hard is it really?  i wouldn't think it would be THAT bad.  and for you tailgate guys...how does the window tracks mount to the body?  are they a weld or a bolt/screw?  i would guess a bolt/screw, but i'm not sure.  and the hinges are all bolt-on right?  seems pretty straightforward to me.  can someone please post pics of the open tailgate area (mounting of the 'gate, window channel area, hinge/check strap pics, things like that) so i can see what it all looks like?  i'm trying to help him but i need to know what i'm lookin at...thanks in advance!

[Monzter]

Own Man! I just bought a tailgate for my 73 Suburban & I hate it. I found some barn doors, I'm gonna buy them, I'll post pics of the swap when I do it.