schardein Posted June 13, 2023 Share Posted June 13, 2023 Original 1986 tailgate handle refurbished with the new stainless steel replacement handle from BoxyJeep. Everything in the kit was used- new handle, new mounting bolts, new spring, new rubber bumpers, new rod retainers, new pivot bolts. Pivot points are lightly lubed, it operates super smooth. The original assembly is in very good shape, most of the original plating is intact. I polished the face of the stainless handle, enough to remove the manufacturing lines. If you've bought one of these, you know what I'm talking about. Before being polished, I ran it through a vibratory tumbler for 24hrs to de-bur it. It polished up pretty nice, but nowhere near chrome plating. $180 shipped. More pics available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boxyjeep Posted June 13, 2023 Share Posted June 13, 2023 Wow, that came out nice! I may need to add "polished" as a supplemental service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglescout526 Posted June 13, 2023 Share Posted June 13, 2023 1 hour ago, boxyjeep said: Wow, that came out nice! I may need to add "polished" as a supplemental service. Chrome tailgate handle prices, meet your demise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
70barracuda Posted June 14, 2023 Share Posted June 14, 2023 They really do polish nicely, and I only put maybe 30 minutes of work into mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schardein Posted June 14, 2023 Author Share Posted June 14, 2023 6 minutes ago, 70barracuda said: They really do polish nicely, and I only put maybe 30 minutes of work into mine. Very nice. I think I have about 30-45min in mine not counting tumbler time. Mine looks nice, but I wouldn't say it's like chrome. Still some fine lines in the surface. Can you share what your process was? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
70barracuda Posted June 14, 2023 Share Posted June 14, 2023 1 minute ago, schardein said: Very nice. I think I have about 30-45min in mine not counting tumbler time. Mine looks nice, but I wouldn't say it's like chrome. Still some fine lines in the surface. Can you share what your process was? Yeah mines not perfect either but I didn't want that, with enough work it could be a perfect mirror though. All I did was a flapper disc to the edges to smooth them, then 400, 600, 800, 1000 and 2000 grit sandpaper. By hand. Then polished with blue magic polish on a Dremel cloth disc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schardein Posted June 14, 2023 Author Share Posted June 14, 2023 Interesting. I was wondering if sanding mine first would have helped. I did a buffing wheel on a bench buffer, started with a white stick compound for hard metals, then stopped and put it in the tumbler for 24 hrs. Then back to the buffer and white compound, then switched to Autosol (paste in a tube) on the buffer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
70barracuda Posted June 14, 2023 Share Posted June 14, 2023 8 hours ago, schardein said: Interesting. I was wondering if sanding mine first would have helped. I did a buffing wheel on a bench buffer, started with a white stick compound for hard metals, then stopped and put it in the tumbler for 24 hrs. Then back to the buffer and white compound, then switched to Autosol (paste in a tube) on the buffer. I didn't have any of that for buffing so that's why I went the sand paper route. You can definitely still see scratches on it but I went for that look to match the truck. Didn't want perfect. I feel like if you did the sand paper up to 3000 and then buffed like you did it would be like perfect chrome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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