1) does the tailgate generally support a 900lb street glide to ramp into bed?
2) what, if anything do guys use (wheel choke)on front tire of bike? My truck has a plastic bed liner.

Chevy with 6.5' box

 

I have hauled mine in the back of my pick-up, but my truck was older and I didn't care much about the tail gate getting bent. It didn't bend it though. If I was to use my new pick-up, I think I would put down a 3/4" piece of plywood first. I didn't use a chock or anything. It sat between the truck bed raised spots in the floor. If I put down plywood, I would just screw a couple 2X4s to keep the front wheel from sliding to one side or another.

 

I hauled my Limited in a 2014 Ram with a 76 inch box. I bolted my chock onto a piece of plywood, slid it into the box and used a ramp at a dealer to ride the bike into the pick-up. I should have used a large enough sheet to cover the tailgate, as yes indeed the rear wheel sitting on the gate actually put a dent into the gate. I probably could have had the bike forward another 3 inches which may have prevented this but I was surprised about the dent either way.

 

You didn't say what year your Chevy truck is.

I know on most of them, the only thing holding the tailgate up are those two cable straps on each side.
I broke one on my 2000 Silverado with two people just sitting on the gate (probably 375LBS total between us).
As soon as the first cable snapped, the jolt of it snapped the other one two.
The gate then just fell down and hit the bumper, dumping us on the ground.

I would not trust that tailgate to support that bike.
Sure it will work for awhile, but you just never know when you will snap a cable.

Water gets under that plastic sleeve, and the steel braids rust and become weak.

As mentioned, add a piece of plywood to spread the load better.

 

GM had a recall on those cables. They were replaced with stainless.

 

On some of the older models we use to replace the cables with the "hinged mechanism" off of the HD models ... found them at the local salvage yards

 

I have a 01 silverado with a 6.5 bed. With the bike all the way in the rear tire is still sitting on the truck bed and not the tail gate. Still can't close the tail gate.

 

I followed a guy across the Indiana turnpike a couple years ago. His softail was sitting on his Dodge Dakota tailgate. When I first spotted him, the tailgate was fine. By the time we got to Chicago, the tailgate had bent in the middle and was sitting on the bumper.

 

having had tailgate cables break on me on a GMC Sierra, I would not do it. I took my Street Glide out to L.A. over Christmas in the back of the F-150. I took the tailgate off to load it and left it off. Loaded it and unloaded with no problems, put it in a Wheel Dock for the ride and had about a 1/2" left over at the rear of the bed for the ride

 

When I was hauling a camper, I made steel bars to replace the tailgate cables on my pickup. Any load like that will tweak the gate and cause damage. Besides have you seen the you tube videos of bike loading in a pickup? If I were to do it, I would back up to a dock.