M880 project update / Tailgating

I've been on a mission of sorts to get this M880 ready to take over for the M882. (See "It followed me home" thread)

Things other than the weather have been going smoothly on this project, for the most part.
Decided to switch hoods with a real nice civilian one, Was able to straighten the front bumper into usable for now. Same for the grill.
Was able to take care of the most noticable dents with hammer & dolly.
Been sanding the red off, welding pieces back together, several original welds were popped loose on this truck
Straightened the step bumper that it had on it and traded it for a half decent (correct) one off my buddies M884.I had the tailgate from my M882 (pretty rough, but better than nothing) on and was going to get it prepped for paint today.

Today was great! Well maybe, you decide,
Coming home from work today, hot & tired, driving by the next door neighbors I notice a tailgate next to some rims in the yard by the drive.

I couldn't believe my eyes, had to turn around.
A mint condition tailgate of the correct vintage for my M880, ok maybe "Mint" is a little strong, It did look like it was on a truck for 6 months to a year of it's sheltered life. (Note: I live in the 'Rust Belt')
He said he had $50 into it and no use for it.
It's mine NOW

He also has a set of chrome wagon wheels 8.25 x 16.5 8 lug from a Dodge.

great find, how about some pics?

good deal on the tailgate...... But I think I would of passed on the 16.5 rims.


would like to see a pic though!

Good score. That's just clean living....

What I want to know is how long you've been neighbors without noticing each other's trucks? Sometimes things just work right.

bigbee said:

What I want to know is how long you've been neighbors without noticing each other's trucks? Sometimes things just work right.

Click to expand...

That's just it.
He doesn't have any of these old Dodges, He has an 87.
A relative of his had brought the stuff up from down state over the weekend figuring he could use it.

I'll get some project pics up tonight.

Pics
These two are from the It followed me home.... thread.

http://steelsoldiers.com/modules/PNphpBB2/files/im813_166.jpg
http://steelsoldiers.com/modules/PNphpBB2/files/im000819sm_154.jpg

and these show the progress, should ( weather permitting ) have it painted this weekend.

Slick looking tailgate there Bob!! makes one tempted for a moment to consider leaving the truck in the red paint. I would like to note that although this is the correct tailgate for a civy Dodge pickup from the late `70's, it is however incorrect for the M880. Dodge decided to bring back the tailgate with the stamped "DODGE" lettering for the M880 (originally used on the civy trucks in the early `70's) This was because the army obviously would not let them put a Dodge decal on the trucks, and the decal would quickly get painted over by the camo paint scheme anyway, therefore the decision by Dodge to use up some of their old stock of the stamped letter tailgates on the M880s.
(edit: don't take this as gospel truth however. It apears that some M880's may have had the tailgate without the stamped emblem, as I can see a few of yours have. However it's unclear if this was original or if some M880's that had the tailgate replaced got tailgates without the stamped emblem.)


All this said, it's still a beautifull tailgate, and a fantanstic score!!

Interesting veiwpoint on the tailgate situation.
I have seen more without the stamped "Dodge" then with.

The tailgate that came on my M882 (pictured above) while apparently from a different truck (painted different camo) has the plate on it where the cargo cover fastens to. This appears to be an original setup, judging by the way it is attached. It does not have stamped Dodge on it.

Jump back in time to late 1942, when the War Department made Ford and Willys cease and desist on the "Script" Ford & "Willys" on the back panel.
I have been under the impression that the same rule was handed down to the Dodge boys. and the Stamped Dodge was then eliminated for the M880 series trucks.

Now, I feel the need for research on this matter.....................

Perhaps they only used the stamped Dodge emblem tailgates until they ran out of their old stock? To be honest, until I saw yours, I thought all the M880's had the stamped emblem tailgates. And I'm pretty sure they aren't seen on the Civilian Dodges in the latter years of the `70's (now watch you go and prove me wrong on the point ) I originally got alerted to the idea one time when I got into a discussion on the M880's over on Ramcharger Central, and my above post was the conclusion that came out of it. I admit, that it could be slightly off. Let me know what you find out on the subject. I'd be interested in knowing the official story.

"dodge" stamped or not.... you CAN NOT beat the price of that gate, and the condition it is in looks great to me, and if you dont want it I will take it!

It is a well known fact that the military did not want the ford or willis name stamped on the back of the jeep, But this was a situiation where you had two diffrent companies building the same vehicle. ( kinda like the deuce).

I have seen them both ways on the '77 M880s, ( in my case, mostly without ) but it seems to me that all of the cilvian '77s I see are not stamped. even the famed "lil red express" and "warlock". Also, if the military was concerned with having "DODGE" written on their trucks.... then why didnt they do something about the lettering stamped on the front grill ?. or the "bowtie" on the grill of the CUCVs ?

However, I do reserve the right to be wrong, and look forward to the results of your search!

On the tailgate situation, it is my understanding that they were changed on civilian models to save costs and the military ones followed suit. Early ones would have had them, while later ones would not. It may have been a mid-year or "running change" which would explain the confusion on the dates of the different gates. Naturally the military would have gotten a supply of spare parts in the beginning and perhaps those all were stamped and were used to replace ones in later years that were not stamped and account for some newer models having them. Little Reds and Warlocks were all stepsides, so that would have been a completely different tailgate altogether. According to the parts manuals you have one tailgate up to 74 then another from 75-78, another for 79-80, and one "with embossed Dodge Ram logo" for 81 and one for 81 without. Note that the 81 tailgate has "Dodge Ram" and not just "Dodge". None of them are listed as having any particular markings in any of the catalogs save the 1981 models. I will note that both of my 1974 models do NOT have any markings but I cannot verify that either of them are original.

The funny thing is that with the humvee, AM general stamped in AM GENERAL in the back of the first few prodution runs of humvees, then later runs didnt have AM GENERAL in them......... So what was done before was done again...

Elwenil said:

On the tailgate situation, it is my understanding that they were changed on civilian models to save costs and the military ones followed suit. Early ones would have had them, while later ones would not. It may have been a mid-year or "running change" which would explain the confusion on the dates of the different gates. Naturally the military would have gotten a supply of spare parts in the beginning and perhaps those all were stamped and were used to replace ones in later years that were not stamped and account for some newer models having them. Little Reds and Warlocks were all stepsides, so that would have been a completely different tailgate altogether. According to the parts manuals you have one tailgate up to 74 then another from 75-78, another for 79-80, and one "with embossed Dodge Ram logo" for 81 and one for 81 without. Note that the 81 tailgate has "Dodge Ram" and not just "Dodge". None of them are listed as having any particular markings in any of the catalogs save the 1981 models. I will note that both of my 1974 models do NOT have any markings but I cannot verify that either of them are original.

Click to expand...

Let me offer a slightly different scenario,
It seems that the civilian Dodges made the switch from embossed logo to sticker logo starting in the 1975 model year. Since the M880's ran model years from 1975 through 1977, it seems that using the embossed logo tailgates was an intentional departure from the civilian tailgate switch over. And I'm thinking this was intentional from the start of production for the M880's, at least until they ran out of the old stock of embossed tailgates. So then the hunch I have is that the M880's originally came from the factory with the embossed Dodge logo, and the tailgates without the embossed logo were either from later production (after the old stock of embossed tailgates were used up) or they were a replacement for an original tailgate that had the embossed logo.

Considering your alternative explaination, It doesn't make sense to me that they would ever use the embossed tailgate as a replacement part if they hadn't used it on the M880's from original production, as by this time the non embossed tailgate would be in greater supplies in inventory and there would be no reason to make a substitution in that case.
But I'd love to see some documention to either confirm or refute all this. I guess it's my personal preference that may be biasing my opinion here, since I really like the embossed Dodge logo I have on my M880. It sets my truck apart from other run of the mill `77 Dodge trucks.

Either way, it's a great score on a tailgate in pristine condition.

On the supply of old tailgates I was thinking more of what the US Military would have had in stock and not Mopar. It is my understanding that when one of these contracts go through there is an initial parts supply sent to the Government for their use that the Government itself would stock under NSN numbers. Mopar would not supply the old tailgate for a newer model. As a matter of fact, the 74 and back number supercedes to the 75-78 number. It was my guess that perhaps the military still had some of these old tailgates on hand from the old supplies that may have found their way onto a newer truck. The date of the changeover is still up in the air though, since both of my 74s have plain tailgates and there is an all original but rough 74 2WD truck here local that has a plain tailgate on it and one of the mechanics here has known the truck since it was sold here new in 1974. I am thinking that it was a mid-74 change and some of the late 74 models had the new tailgate when they became available. This is all just speculation, since like with all old Mopar info, you have to go by crusty old examples and old memories, lol.

Good point there Elwenil. If the Army had bought a whole bunch of spare embossed logo tailgates and put them into inventory when they started the run, then they naturally might have many of these tailgates left even after Chrysler Corp. had run out of them and started putting the plain tailgates on the later M880's. Of course this all implies then that they started production of the M880's with the embossed tailgate, otherwise why would the Army have bought so many to put into inventory?

Don't know a darned thing about the tailgates but he early variant of the M880 had the older grills with the parking lights at the bottom. Perhaps it was during this early fist run that the reserve inventory of tailgates was purchased by Uncle Sam.

The grilles changed a lot in the 70s between the Dodge and Plymouth models. I think the change from the lamps in the lower valance into the grille was for the 77 model year.

One thing I might note for you guys with M880 series trucks and/or similar Dodge or Plymouth trucks is that Mopar no longer supplies the taillamp lenses. They are now a cancelled part number and I cannot get anymore than the 2 sets I am hoarding for my own personal use. Saturn Surplus has some on their website, but I expect them to become scarce in the future, especially when the civilian Dodge truck crowd learns of the lenses in stock there. The aftermarket makes these lenses, but they are cheap and fade quickly. so if you have a few of these trucks you might want to get a spare set or two to keep back for future use. The price Saturn has is pretty good compared to the Mopar list price and as pictured they are genuine Mopar parts.

Got the paint on it
Plenty more work to be done though

Woah, that sucker looks great Bob. Dang, I really want one now! Excellent paint. Is that a standard pattern? It's beautiful.