I have an 05 3500 long box only had the truck for 5 months now and the tailgate is dead its twisted up bent and caved in now i know i abuse it so besides buying a new tailgate that i will pretty much do the same thing too. Does anyone know of a better option?

 

I hear you. I went from a 2nd gen to a 3rd gen, and the tailgate on the 3rd gen was so weak it should have never been installed on an HD truck. What I did with my 2nd gen, I couldn't even begin to replicate to my 3rd gen without damaging the gate.

I can't answer your question, even if you added a piece of plate to stiffen the gate, the cable attachment points are the next to bend and they will start to poke into the exterior sheet metal of the gate. If you seriously use the truck, I would opt for a flatbed...sell the fleetside, and use it and the $$ you'd dump into a new gate to pay for the flatbed. Had I kept my truck, and kept using it like I was; that was the route I was looking at...