Tailgate panel question

[mike_68]

How do you remove the outer panel (see pic) from the tailgate? I wanted to take it off for painting... is that recommended?
I tried pulling it and popped some kind of weld I guess (see pic). How do I fix this?

Thanks.

[kentdaryl]

Mine was pop riveted from the inside of the tailgate. Just drill out the heads of the rivets and it should come off. I reinstalled it with pop rivets too.
Daryl

[flyboy2610]

Oops!

[71-F-250SC-72-F-250C]

I am having a simular problem, but I am trying to install one of those peices on a tailgate that has never had the trim on it. Am I going to have to try to drill holes in my tailgate to get the holes in the trim to line up, so I can pop rivet them in?

[edmccloughloch]

Mine was pop-riveted too. Is that how they were originally installed?

[FORDification]

Yes, they were all pop-riveted. Sometimes if a rivet broke loose a previous owner might have used a regular sheetmetal screw instead. I've removed a few of these panels which were about 50/50 mix of screws and rivets.

For mounting one of these on a tailgate which didn't have one originally, I'd make a template to use for figuring out where your holes need to be drilled. You can either:

1) lay a long sheet of paper over the top of the panel and trim out around the edge, then mark the hole locations. You'd then center your template on your tailgate and mark where where you'd need to drill.

2) Spread some marking paint on the rivet eyelets on the back of the panel, and then just press the panel where it needs to be on the tailgate and remove it. The marking paint should leave impressions on the tailgate where you'd need to drill.

[67effie]

I did option #2