Tailgate latch - on body

[kramttocs]

The hoop part that mounts to the bed.
I see the round style by far more often in the jy. I'm fact I don't know if I've ever seen the flat style on an 80-86 truck in the jy and all of mine are round.
Looking at the parts number in the doc it's an E3TZ number for which there is a listing on eBay and it's the flat style.
What does everyone have on theirs?
One better than the other?

[Gary Lewis]

Check out the Tailgate tab here: Exterior/Beds, Tailgates, & Components.  And especially the Changing Tailgates tab.

The reason you see more of one kind that another is that there were more trucks made with one than the other.  Three years, 1980-82, had one style and four years, 1983-86, had the other - the E3TZ part.

[kramttocs]

I'd looked at those pages earlier but didn't see anything (aside from the E3TZ part number) related to these.
Going off the years though, I would expect to see more flat. My 84, 85, and 86 for sure have the round style.
I never knew there was a flat style until I ordered a set from lmc and thought they sent me the wrong part. The next time I went to the jy I looked at quite a few bullnoses and they all had the round style.

I know it's not really a big deal, I was just surprised to see that the flat style came out in 83.

Also, just to be sure - I am not talking about the support straps. It just dawned on me those could be considered flat (bar) vs round (cable) also.

[kramttocs]

Referring to this - taken from the ebay listing for E3TZ.

[Gary Lewis]

I was confused.  I thought "flat" was the straps and "round" was the cable.  Anyway, I don't know.  What is the part number on the box in the pic?  E3TZ 99431B54-B?  There was obviously an E0TZ part, but it got replaced by the E3.

[kramttocs]

My fault, I didn't explain it well.
On the box for that listing it is E3TZ 99431B54-B.

Maybe just a situation where they had a ton of the round and didn't get to use the flat for awhile....

[salans7]

I've had both a 1980 and a 1986 and neither of them had that piece. The only difference between my 1980 and my 1986 was the straps versus cables, everything else is the same.

[Gary Lewis]

Yes.  I thought the flat piece was aftermarket.  But it is in a Ford box?

[kramttocs]

It is. Which is really what threw me off. There are a couple listings and they are both flat and with the box that has E3TZ 99431B54-B.
Dennis Carpenter under that number shows the round style according to the photo.

I've seen two boxes on ebay that below the number have 'w/o' line on them:

W/O 183170      012698

W/O 199890      110996

Not sure what those mean though.

Shaun - yours is round, correct?

[salans7]

Yep, both of my trucks were round.