Patent ID: 8444200

Claim:
A damper for a vehicle tailgate comprising: a crank firmly connected by a sleeve of the crank to a ferrule of a counterbalance of a vehicle tailgate, the sleeve extending into a recess in the ferrule and comprising an inside configured to receive a pintel pin mounted to the vehicle, the counterbalance configured to at least partially offset the weight of the pivotable vehicle tailgate, the ferrule configured to removably couple to a bed of the vehicle at an axis about which the tailgate pivots and to remain in a fixed orientation to the bed over a range of pivoting motion of the vehicle tailgate; and a piston element having a first end coupled to the crank and a second end configured to be connected at a fixed location on the tailgate, with the second end being positioned above the first end when the tailgate is in a closed position, the piston element being configured to extend and to provide a torque about the pivot in a direction opposite to the direction of rotation of the pivotable tailgate, the piston element rotating with and in the same direction as the tailgate about its first end.