Hey Toyota friends! I know that most of us with tailgate-style 1st and 2nd gen 4Runners have trashed tailgate panels. I came up with a replacement panel made out of durable plastic for my 1st gen and wanted to share. Thanks!

 

Wow that's beautiful and I need one of those also. Was just about to figure out what to do with mine. What is the material and where did you get it?
Are those the factory screw locations?
Thanks

 

Thanks! That one is ABS, but I am making new ones now out of Black HDPE (cutting board material). I get the material through my supplier that also does the CNC cutting. Holes are in the stock locations using stock hardware, minus the panel washers. Screw heads are just about flush.

 

Perfect for cutting up limes for my rum coke, no? I like using the tailgate as a bench/table when working on other things. are you offering these for sale?

 

Perfect for limes! haha

 

Excellent idea. Very nice work.

Tap Plastics https://www.tapplastics.com/product/...o_size_plastic has various kinds of sheet goods. On their website, I looked at ABS, smooth HDPE, and "cutting board" HDPE. Using a WAG for the dimensions they all cost less than $40 (which would make it tough for 96taco to cover shipping.) All of these are very easy to cut or drill (and TAP cuts these to an exact dimension, so you won't have much cutting).

You have to decide on a thickness (twice as thick => approximately twice as expensive). It looks like 96taco used 1/4" or 3/16", no?

 

I get a lot of stuff at TAP plastics. Sometimes I get lucky and find the right size stuff in their bargain bin
I'm lucky there is one about 15-20 minutes from me

 

Nice!
Tougher, lower-maintenance and more functional than stock that (IF made of carpet material) traps sand/dirt. Yes, perfect for food-prep on the tailgate. (For cooking, I just place stove on top of heat-resistant rubber workbench mat like this.)

 

Yeah, TAP Plastics is awesome! I'm sourcing this material through a major plastics supplier/manufacturer and they are also doing the CNC cutting of the panels. Because of this I'm able to sell them at hardly more than the material cost at regular retailers. If anyone is interested, please shoot me a PM.

That looks like it would work well!