Liking my Lightning... but no way to lock tailgate in down position?

[MountainAlive]

Ratchet strap from the lower hook in the bed to the towball works in a pinch.

Yep or put your heavy thing atop a couple 8 ft 2x4s or a plywood sheet that extends out a smidge past the open gate.

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[Scorpio3d]

Nice bars. I might have to get a set.
Maybe a small R-clip just for security to keep them from accidentally bouncing off the posts. We all know $hit happens.

In a pinch, I've used a bungee cord from the clamp pockets to the hitch to keep it from bouncing and it worked pretty well.

Ratchet strap from the lower hook in the bed to the towball works in a pinch.

I have used both of those methods as well!

 

[Thunder1809]

I bought one of these when I haul my mountain bike and leave the tailgate open or get the 2 if you want to leave it partially up. It is easy to install. https://www.ride88.com/product-page/tailgate-boss

 

[LightningMcqueen]

It does lock in the down position if you bought the bed extender. The bed extender has two pins that lock into the lower holes when it is deployed and that keeps the tailgate from flopping up and down.

Can you post a picture? Perhaps we just need a couple of pins to lock down?

 

[Aminorjourney]

Couple of thoughts.
1) remove it. This is quick and you get the plug for the wiring system when you buy the truck.
2) you can always move the load back a bit.

I carried a mower and a Vectrix over decent distances (in separate trips) I kept something over the tailgate bit in both cases could have removed it.

 

[Mike G]

Can you post a picture? Perhaps we just need a couple of pins to lock down?

I see that I misspoke earlier......when the bed extender is deployed the pins lock in the top holes, not the bottom.

They lock in the bottom holes when the extender is stowed.

Rather than taking a pic, this is from the installation manual for the extender:

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