Hello, My tailgate was rotted out so I went to the Junk Yard to purchase another one. My old tailgate has the female spring clips on the tailgate and the male posts on the body. The tailgate I bought has the male spring clips. How do you get the bolts off that have the leashes connected to them? I need to put my old handle mechanism into the new tailgate. Please help, Thanks Dan

 

You bought an older t/g. I'm not sure you can mount your newer hardware on the older gate. You should have gotten one like this:

 

Thank you Steve for the diagram. I appreciate that. I took it back to the Junkyard and the guys used vise grips and were able to spin the flat bolts off. Everything is working now. Thanks again for your help. Take care, Fatbat