The OEM cables might not be stainless, but I think the aftermarket ones are. One thing to mention is that I doubt the tailgates on our cars get opened more than 10-20 times a year. Chrome is a lot harder than stainless, but once you wear through to the cast steel you have the wear issue. A little spray lube now and then should help.
56 Nomad, Ramjet 502, Viper 6-speed T56, C4 Corvette front and rear suspension
Other vehicles:
56 Chevy 2-door BelAir sedan
56 Chevy 210 4-door sedan
57 Chevy 210 4-door sedan
1962 327/340HP Corvette
1961 Willys CJ3B Jeep
2001 Porsche Boxster S
2003 Chevy Silverado 2500 HD Duramax
2019 GMC Sierra Denali Duramax
C'Nut , didn't you get my email? I sent you an email yesterday replying to your post, but ill just go ahead and reiterate on here what we are doing.
the first sample we tested back in april or so, we opened and closed the tailgate 500-700x and the wear was actually very minimal compared to the casted reproductions currently on the market. so we made a few revisions to the guide to try to contain the wear where its in the cove area only. that way you would have the polished face, then the cove area that is not so polished and the wear would be in that area. we know it would be difficult to do this with the angle from the retractor to the cups on the tailgate.
as of yesterday, ive opened the gate 100x with these new guides. I have a new cable on one side and an old one on the other. one thing ive noticed right away is that the new cable has lesser wear than the old cable. that's prolly because theres a kink in the old cable. from the 100x ive opened and closed the wear has been contained, which is a very good sign. we did put a little lube/grease on the coved area of the guide as well.
I plan to open and close the gate 500-700x. now, that may be extreme but its something I would like to see for myself just so I know what to expect. I figure its prolly overkill because even someone with a daily driver might only open 1-2x per day at most. so the 500-700x I open and close the gate would be equivalent to 2-3x years of use on a daily driver. realistically tho, most of the cars these guides will go on wont be daily drivers. even the daily drivers out there, prolly aren't driven 7 days a week. I considered my old red 57 nomad to be daily driven , but I still only drove it 4-5 days a week. so I think with our testing we will get an accurate analysis of what we can expect and what the customers can expect from these things. needless to say its important because the big thing with cable guides on these cars is that they look so crummy with the wear , which is the whole point of going to machined stainless. I think they look fantastic , and if they can contain the wear, that's just icing on the cake for us.
Last edited by MadMooks; 11-06-2013 at 09:19 AM.
Mike
The parts look GREAT , really Glad your doing this stuff for the nomads . Keep up the great work , I really feel sorry for that tail gate in that nomad it must be getting tired .
1955 2 DR Post
1937 Chevy Coupe
2023 Ford Super Duty F350 TREMOR
2019 Corvette Z06
1955 Chevy Nomad
1935 Ford 2dr Slant back I have 4
Thanks Sid! I agree. its bitter sweet for us on our test nomad. there are times where we are like, man what are we doing this is a sweet ride, but its helped a ton with the business that's for sure. I told my old man, don't worry just a few more parts in that back area and ill button it up for him and touch up where I need to touch up. I have a lot of plans for that nomad its just a matter of time before I get my hands on it.
as of this morning 200x, and the wear looks to be still contained. there is one thing I have to mention, with the polished guides, a new cable, and an oiled up original reel ( with a few kinks in it ) this tailgate really jumps out of the hole, very nice.
Last edited by MadMooks; 11-09-2013 at 10:44 AM.
now available
700x and counting on the tests. wear is still minimal and goes unnoticed from a few feet.
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