“It eliminates the struggle of opening or closing a heavy tailgate when you’re holding something,” says Brandon Parks, inventor of the GateGlide II.

Like the gas spring that lifts hatchbacks, Parks figured out how to use a gas spring to slowly lower a tailgate and close it effortlessly.

“It takes 90 to 95 percent of the weight off,” Parks says.

The employee of Geno’s Garage, a Dodge/Cummins parts distributor in Georgia, calibrated the gas spring to work on Dodge pickups (1994 to 2013). The $100 GateGlide II comes with directions where to drill two small holes in the tailgate and install mounting clamps on the truck bed’s sidewall lip.

“I’m working on adapting it for other pickup models,” Parks says. “You have to get the gas spring right for the right weight of the tailgate and calibrate it to the pivot point.”

He’s shipped the GateGlide II to a wide variety of people in the U.S. and overseas. “It just make life easier for anyone who drives a pickup, whether it’s for work, travel or everyday use,” he says.

His other truck accessory also makes life simpler.
The Excelsior Block Heater Bumper Plug is specifically designed for Dodge (Cummins) diesel trucks (1994 to 2012). Instead of having an engine heater plug hanging out the front bumper in the winter, Park’s $50 plug accessory mounts in the bumper with a flip-open, waterproof cover and a molded plug and cable that plugs directly into the engine heater. The plug is easy to access and hidden when not in use.