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I have a old 1950s truck tailgate which measures 49 3/4 inches wide and 24 inches tall. I want to turn into a bench that will fold up and down that will mount to a wall. The wall has standard 2x4 16 inch spacing studs. I have put together a picture of how I am thinking of doing this. My idea was using 2 side supports along with a bottom footer that would attach to the wall using 4 3/8 inch lag screws and 3 along the bottom. The side supports would be made by gluing together a 3.5 inch wide x 24 inch and 2.5 inch wide x 24 hard maple. I would place the lag screws on the 3.5 inch wide portion so that the screws will be hidden when the tailgate is in the up position. I believe this should hold but I keep talking myself out of it. I also was concerned of the eye hook plate for holding the chain to the tailgate will be taking a large portion of the load as well it would be about 2 inches big with 4 screws holding them in place enter image description here

edit: The intended use of this is to be a seating bench.

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    I'm not sure anyone can answer this. Use large enough fasteners, enough of them, secured well enough. The chain will give if it gives depending on load. If by "bench" you mean a work bench, then no matter what you do this will be for the lightest of workloads because benches see more racking and dynamic forces than static loads. So maybe edit this question and tell us what the intended use is.
    – user5572
    Apr 23, 2020 at 14:01
  • Is it a workbench? A seating area (that would be cool!)? A bar for serving drinks? Purely decorative? As jdv said, the use will determine the strength of mounting required.
    – FreeMan
    Apr 23, 2020 at 14:47
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    Sorry I edited the original post I thought I had included it but I guess not. I intend for this to be a seating bench.
    – user1883226
    Apr 23, 2020 at 15:48
  • Do the sides of your wood frame line up with studs ? I do not like the eye hook, use through bolts not screws. I would use eye bolts that have machine threads, drill a hole through the wood and recess the nut and two wide washers.
    – Alaska Man
    Apr 23, 2020 at 16:08
  • the wood frame will extend past the stud on each side by about 1 or 2 inches past where the lag screws would go. I really like your idea of using a eye bolt! that would make me feel a lot better than using the eye hook plate . I also may do the same thing using through bolts for the hinges on the bottom of the tailgate as well.
    – user1883226
    Apr 23, 2020 at 16:23

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