A WARNING about bed rail tire carriers

Let us know how it turns out. Read your warranty manual but it's worth fighting for.

I know it's easy to say, weight wasn't distributed "properly", but that's nonsense. The bar itself is secured in a way to distribute the load, and if you secured a load within stated limits and it cracked then that's bad. Perfectly balanced load is impossible, just like "uniform heating and cooling". Engineers know it's nonsense, warranty and service people use the terms hoping you will go away.

 

Bummer

 

Roof racks can cause loss of MPG and it raises the COG of the truck.. no bueno

 

I'm not surprised at all . The only way I can see to alleviate the problem would be to make a support brace that goes to the 2 small bolts at the top of the bed down to the bed bolt

 

Or you could put an eye bolt in the bed in front of the tire and run a strap over the tire to tie it down to the bed.

 

I really don't see the manufacturer warranty covering this. Best of luck, but don't get pissed if they don't. It was obviously over stressed supporting that big ass tire and wheel. It didn't happen overnight, I'm wondering how you never heard or saw the flex before it got that bad.

Looking at it from a dealer perspective, I would say no. It isn't defective. No steel will hold up to that kind of flex for an extended period of time.

 

True but I still think it will flex still

I had a factory spare on mine and it was still doing it . The only way to catch it would be to take the bed rail plastic off

 

I dont see them covering this. In their defense, they provided a proper place to store the spare tire for what their engineers decided was the proper size tire for this vehicle. If we choose to get larger tires and then mount the larger and heavier spare in an area not designed for that weight and torsional stress, its an abuse of the vehicle component and they could easily prove the crack is a direct result of the spare tire mount. We just have to accept that the things we do to our beloved Tacos are not always the best for them and we have to pay to play.

 

This is a true statement, but I think he's just letting us know the bed rails suck.

 

That sucks! Gonna be an expensive fix that I can't imagine will be covered through Toyota. I would imagine that your insurance policy would apply though.

 

I'd just throw some JB weld on it and call it a day,

 

x2 I was thinking the same thing . I'm guessing much of the flex is from the tire bouncing up and down slightly, so adding a fixed mount on the bottom would help remedy that, and also distribute the weight/shock downward. I will be down at my buddy's shop tomorrow to help with his lift, and maybe work on a "better" design for this style of mount.

Right now I have a 285/70r17 stuffed underneath in the stock location, but I do not want to leave it there - it barely clears the pumpkin when flexed, it hits the exhaust hangar and rubs the shackle on the DS.

I know I could throw it on the rails on top of my canopy, but I don't want to do that either. And, I don't want to lose the bed space by dedicating the entire thing to a spare tire, or spend the money on a non-versatile option like that.

I will keep you guys updated if I work out a better design for the rail-mount option.

 

I have a Metalmiller tire mount, which I like, for my 2nd off-rad spare.
I mounted mine on the front rail, and after one particularly bouncy off-road trip, noticed that the rail was starting to separate from the bed front.
I put two thru bolts on either side if where the tire mount sits - no further problems.

 

^This and then you can prob patch it from the inside with some glass and resin if you are still concerned.

 

hope mine don't do that [/IM
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3rd pic is in the up position with the rear cross bar mounted about were the op had problems

 

This x3 ^

 

aaronbuell, it looks like yours is braced in 3 points. It shouldn't be doing any flexing. If I'm reading the pictures right, that's a good example of converting the dynamic load of the OP's setup to a static loading.

 

OP check that verticle bed post in the rear, too. I had a heavy-ass RKI tool box full of stuff on the passenger side of the bed and it cracked around where the quarter panel bolts to the bed and the base of the vert. bed post, i.e. where your tail gate locks in. The "plastic" bed on these trucks suck wang, "sissy truck" as my wife would say.

 

Why not just put it under the bed?

 

in this case tho its not the plastic bed thats breaking. its the metal. same with El Tacorojo. and the very back part that you are talking about where the tailgate locks in is also metal.