I had a good view of the tailgate latch in the drivers side rearview mirror, which always gives me a comfort zone. I crossed New Mexico and had passed Wilcox, Az. when my youngest son said he needed a rest stop. Texas Canyon rest stop was just ahead which placed us two-hundred miles from our last stop.
As I walked around the trailer I discovered that the tailgate was "gone"!!! The latch, which is nothing more than a catch latch, was still intact; lock-pin in place. The lower hing pin was still in place, but the upper hing pin was GONE!
Evidently, the top hing pin had worked out allowing the gate to just drop off the lower hing. I first thought maybe this trailer was hinged wrong, but after getting back home, I find that every stock trailer that I have looked at has been the same. I could put a pad lock in the catch latch pin hole, pull the top hing pin and pull the gate off.
Newer trailers may be different, but there are sure a lot like the one I'm talking about still on the road. I've never heard of anybody else loosing a stock trailer tailgate, but it diffinately can happen.
