Gate King Tail Gate Adjuster

The Gate King: The Tailgate Adjuster

We’ve all ran into that inevitable moment when loading up lumber or tools or even a ladder in your truck bed, only to realize it just doesn’t quite fit. Mine happened just the other day. I needed to haul an 8 foot ladder over to my mother’s to help her hang some Christmas lights outside. And shockingly--I know--that 8 footer wouldn’t fit in my 6 and a half foot bed. I know. I was shocked and dismayed too.

So I did what we’ve all done. I did a little mental gymnastics, tried to run the odds and find the safest and easiest solution: do I leave the tailgate down or close it?

Both have their pros and cons. If I left the gate down, I would have to use some tie-downs just in case the ladder were to slide out the back. And technically, in my overly litigious state of Illinois, I might even need a red flag attached to the end of the ladder if it was hanging too far off.

My other option though was to close the tailgate and angle the ladder up over the top. This might scuff up the edge of my tailgate, but frankly, it’s already scuffed up. It will reduce how much of the ladder is hanging off the end. And finally it makes it much harder for the ladder to slide off or out of the bed.

However, I have a tonneau cover currently installed on my truck. So I would have to roll up this vinyl cover all the way to the cab, buckle it in place, and even then I might still want to use tie-downs or straps to make sure the ladder doesn’t bounce out if I hit a nasty bump.

But here’s the catch: I’m lazy, I was running late, and I had my two year old already buckled into his car seat of my extended cab Chevy Silverado 1500. So yeah, I needed to think fast.

So I unlocked the tonneau, closed the gate, having the ladder extended at an angle up over the gate itself, and then I went ahead and bungied it down with one tie down just in case. And I hit the road.

One country road later, and I’m pulled over on the side of the road, rolling up my tonneau cover and buckling it in place at the cab, cause my dumba$$ should have known that the cover was going to bounce all over the place and probably get damaged if I didn’t do so. I got a second strap out to make sure the ladder didn’t slide back and forth along the edge of my tailgate, and got back on the road.

You know what I really could have used? Know what I was wishing for right then? Any possible way to have my tailgate half open and secured in place!

But at that moment I didn’t even know that such a product existed. But I did know that I really needed a faster and more secure means to load and haul longer items like my ladder. And this really isn’t an isolated incident for me. I’m in the process of redoing my deck at my house. I am constantly picking up lumber that is 10-12 foot long and sticks out of the back of my tailgate. And I tie them all down, but wouldn’t it be easier and even more secure if I could just raise up my tailgate on top of all that?

To my dismay, what flies across my desk the very next Monday morning, but the exact product I needed last week: The Gate King Tailgate Adjuster.

This adjustable tailgate support system is easy to install, built to last, and designed and made right here in the US of A by Castel Innovations, LLC, a Northern California based company. These folks are heavy into motocross and dirt biking. What they noticed is that there were tons of great bikes out there, plenty of mods, so many aftermarket options for the dirt bikes themselves, but what was lacking was a safe and secure way to haul them.

So over the course of four grueling years, they did was every American entrepreneur does when successful: they solved a problem using sweat, blood, and brains.

Their Tailgate Adjuster uses a patented ratchet system to allow you to lock your tailgate in up to 8 different angles so that you can safely haul whatever it is you want to get from point A to point B, regardless of size, length, or even oblong shapes.

This has always been one of my gripes with truck bed design. Everything is just so uniform. But what if what I’m hauling isn’t a perfect rectangle in shape. What if it has one part that juts out farther or what if I’m taking something really long like a kayak out to the lake, but it’s also super lightweight so I don’t want to just take it with my tail gate all the way down. I’ll need something like the Castel Gate King, a tailgate half open support system, so I can keep my kayak more secure without having it slide out the second I press on the gas.

Castel USA Gate King® Specs

No time to read this whole article? Just want the quick and dirty dets? “Too long; didn’t read” your fav acronym? Don’t worry. We hear ya. Here’s our Midwest Aftermarket Bullet Point Breakdown of the Tailgate King itself, the Gate King®:

Designed in California by Motocross and Extreme Sports fans

Made in America

Replaces stock tailgate cables with true truck tailgate support

Adjusts your tailgate in up to 8 different angles and positions

Patented Tailgate Adjuster® technology locks your tailgate securely in place

Designed to make your truck bed fit the shape and size of your cargo

Everything Proof: coated to withstand dirt, rain, sleet, snow--you name it!

Castel Strong: certified and built to last, hand crafted to Castel’s exact and rigid standards

Get Two Gate Kings, one for the left and one for the right side of your tailgate in each box

Super easy install, in about 5 minutes

No drilling required for installation

Intuitive design: just engage the latching pin on each side, then lift your tailgate to desired height

The Gate King will click into place

Ensure the ratchet and pin are engaged, and you’re all set!

The Tailgate Adjuster® is compatible with most trucks, but each make / model / year is custom

Like having adjustable tailgate cables that will lock into place just where you need them to

Made in America of High Quality Steel

Designed to be as strong as if not stronger than your stock tailgate cables

Transform your tailgate into a customizable truck bed extension system

Install and forget: hides in plain sight, just like your stock cables, only BETTER!

Don’t get caught with your tailgate down™

Keep It Up with Gate King®

Get your Tailgate Adjuster® Now!

Every once in a while a product comes along that both wows us as industry insiders and leaves us asking two key questions:

Why didn’t I think of that?

And how fast can I get one of those?

The Tailgate Adjuster did all that and then some. And perhaps the most common asked question, especially if you’re seen their latest promo video is: how does it do that?

So let’s see if we can at the very least answer that one.

How does the Gate King Tailgate Adjuster Work?

Castel’s patented Tailgate Adjuster Tailgate Support utilizes a ratchet system to lock your tailgate in place. It all starts with high quality material. The entire system is made from steel, designed to be able to handle high capacity heavy loads. And it is precision engineered right here in the States to make sure it works like it should and lasts even longer.

Each Gate King has two brackets, one that attaches to your tailgate and one that attaches to your truck bed, just like, and even in the same location as, your stock tailgate cables. The difference is these brackets are heavy duty, much more hard core than the simple cables, in my humble opinion. And of course the brackets are joined in the middle by the ratchet system.

The ratchet starts un-engaged, meaning that without engaging the device, your tailgate will close and open as normal, going all the way down horizontal and closing completely up, just like your tail gate has always operated. The difference of the design comes into play when you engage the ratchet.

So here’s the low down. First you open your tailgate, probably all the way, as usual. Load up all your gear and equipment, including the stuff that is just a little bit too long for your truck bed with that tailgate closed.

Next you engage the Tailgate Adjuster ratchet or pin.

Now you can start to close the tailgate. Watch and listen as the ratchet pin clicks through the 8 different closing angles. Push the tailgate up as far as it will go until it locks into place at the perfect angle for your load.

Double check to make sure the ratchet pin is locked in place. I do this by just shaking the gate a bit up and down to make sure it is secure. And BAM! You’re all set to roll.

As always, we still recommend you use tie-downs and bungies and the like to secure your load, as usual. But the added security and safety plus ease of use make this product worth the money right from the word go.

But we haven’t even really covered the best bonus part about this innovative product. So with that, let’s return back to the origin point: the story that started this all, at least for me.

So let’s say you’re in similar straights as I was recently. You need to haul something long like a ladder over to your mother’s house to do some tedious tasks like hanging Christmas lights. I know. True first world problems, am I right?

Anyway. So you are probably brilliant just like I am. So you have a tonneau cover. I’m not going to get into the debate of which is better and why. But regardless of whether you have a vinyl roll up like I currently have installed or a retractable, a folding three piece cover like the BAK MX4, or a hard roll up like the Revolver, chances are good you have some kind of truck bed cover installed if you have a truck.

Now here’s the deal. Before we had this product, the Tailgate Adjuster from Gate King, you had to choose: tailgate up or down. But on top of all of that, you have to also consider this one: tonneau open or closed.

Well now that you have a Gate King, you don’t have to choose. You’re not limited by one option or the next. Whereas in the past if you picked tailgate closed, you’d probably have to at least partially open your tonneau cover, that’s just no longer the case.

And this might seem like a moot point until I really spell it out, so bare with me.

Think about how much more secure my load is with my tailgate partially closed and my tonneau cover completely shut and locked?

I can still use tie downs and bungies and straps and all that jazz, and I will--I promise, mom!

But now I can have my truck bed cover closed over the top and my tailgate partially up to help hold that ladder or lumber or whatever in place. 

In other words, you can have the best of both worlds. Now in the same scenario, with my potentially screaming kid already in the truck cab, I don’t have to worry about rolling up my tonneau. I don’t have to leave my tailgate open. Instead, I meet in the middle. I close my tailgate up as far as I can, adding the help of friction, gravity, and momentum to securing my load. I still use a tie-down, but now there’s absolutely no risk of my ladder bouncing out and over the top of the tailgate or truck box. And I angled my ladder up some so that it isn’t sticking out too far over my bumper.

That’s so many wins, I can barely even count them all. And it’s all thanks to one simple, easy to use, intuitive product: the Gate King.

The only question I have now is how fast can I get one!

And the answer is: very fast, and shipping is on us. You’re welcome.

Check out your Gate King Tailgate Adjuster today!