Tire rack tailgate vs non tire rack tailgate
 

Hi, I'm new to this forum and haven't seen anything about this post..I appologize in advance if this has already been addressed..

I have a 2000 Blazer ZR2 with the rear tire rack that was in an accident. The rack was pushed into the tailgate and damaged it. Does anyone know if a non- tire rack tailgate will work with a tire rack tailgate...Can the brackets be transferred over or do I need to get a tailgate with the rack on it?

Thanks

brackets can be transfered.

I know you can put the bracket on a non tire rack tail gate. Just gotta drill a few holes!

well u can do either they are probly plenty of them in your local pull a part yard i would go for a tire one if u can find one that way all you have to do is take the old one off and put on the new one on no drilling needed but if u cant find one all you have to do is measure the old one and drill new holes and put the parts on

Thanks everyone for your responses. Looks like a project for this weekend..I'm assuming that a non-rack tailgate besides being drilled out will also need some kind of reinforcement backing from the original tailgate.

HI Everyone. Just an update..the tailgate with the tire-rack is reinforced from the factory with a bracket with integral nuts...the bracket is spotwelded into place. I tried tearing out the old bracket to install on the non tire-rack tailgate I found at the pull yard but it proved to be too cumbersome (several hours). I was able to rip it out of the old tailgate, but there was no way to install it into the non tire-rack tail gate. I ended up driving about 50 miles to another pull place and found a tire rack tailgate from another ZR2 and installed that one in less than 30 minutes...it is just the wrong color so it needs to be painted...

There have been multiple people on this forum that added tire racks to their 4 doors and used their existing tail gates, so it can be done, pretty easily, Glad you found one though.