Load carrying vehicles, such as trucks, often have fold-down tailgates. Folded down, the tailgates extend the area of the truck bed. Folded up, the tailgates close off the truck bed. It is known to provide tailgates with restraining devices for controlling lowering of the tailgates. As one example, cables may be provided to limit rotation of the tailgates thereby setting the open position of the tailgates at horizontal. The cables may be attached to the tailgates at one end and attached to sidewalls of the truck body at opposite ends. Such cable attachments, however, do not control the rate at which the tailgate falls to the open position.