A WARNING about bed rail tire carriers

I have been carrying my spare, a general grabber 33x12.5x17, using a bedside mount for 10 months. A few weeks ago I noticed a wrinkle in my bedside which was pretty close to where the carrier was located. You can see where my tire was in this picture.



This Monday I took the tire carrier off while I was rotating the tires because I didn't want what I thought was a small buckle to turn into a crack. Then we get to today. A buddy was looking at it and peeked underneath the bed rail cap. Guess what



I guess I was a little late in trying to keep the wrinkle from turning into a crack huh?



The bedside is cracked clear across on the top and has separated along it's seam. Fantastic! I guess I'll be taking a trip to the dealer to inquire about getting them to fix this under warranty. I can't see why a tire, with all of it's weight ont he bed of the truck, can cause this kind of damage if their bed rail cleats can hold 200lbs and the rail can hold 400lbs.

I know steel, and I realize this is a stress fracture from the tire moving up/down and left/right while driving on bad roads and offroad, but the bed shouldn't crack like this. My hopes aren't high that the dealer will do anything about it, but it never hurts to ask.

The tire carrier was mounted to the rail directly between two of the bolts that hold the rail to the bed. The failure is directly in-line with the last bolt on the rail.





One way or another I'll have to get this fixed as I'm afraid the crack will continue to grow. You can see there is a second crack towards the back of the truck.




I would caution anyone with a tire mounted similar to mine to check for cracks. There are two plastic holders on the inside of the cap that have to be pulled out then you can simply pop the cap off and see for yourself.

The maker of my carrier isn't the issue here, it's the weak design of the tacoma's bedside.

I'll see what the dealer has to say, and no, I'm not holding my breath.

 

That sucks op ....and I'm glad you're not holding your breath regarding the dealer. ..good luck.

 

Never did have much faith with this style mount. Too much weight pulling in all directions at one point. It's possible there could have been less/no damage if the mount was midway between two of the screw points of the rail.

Sorry that happened, though.

 

Good thought, but the mount was centered between two mounting screws. Oh well, live and learn. Time for a rear bumper with a tire gate.

 

Thanks for the post and heads-up. I was actually gonna look into building a "MetalMiller" style mount this weekend.

One thing I've already considered doing is adding a secondary fixed-mount to the bed of the truck too. It seems like it would lessen the shock and strain that is being put on the single rail-mount, especially since it will hold a 33" while off-roading.

 

Here is a fairly simple solution.

 

Simple enough, but you lose your bed. My short bed is small enough as it is.

Oh, and that's where my tire currently is. Hog tied to the D-ring in the bed.

 

That sucks!!! I have a fold a cover on my bed, I hope that's not too much wait! Unbelievable!!! The part that cracked was metal, correct? Not composite?

 

Try a roof rack and put your tire up there.

 

Uh...why should the dealer cover this...?

 

i had a side mount like that. I need to check if it mess up my bed to :S.

here is what i have now.

 

Drill a small hole at the end of each crack. That will keep it from spreading.

 

If the body warranty doesn't exclude this specifically, and the wheel/tire were within the stated load capacity of the bed and rail system.. why not?

 

second one i have seen like this

 

Oh and if you put a x in between the numbers in your username, you will probably get banned.

 

It is an aftermarket accessory, which wasn't attached to the bed rail system ( at least it loks that way from here.). bed railsystem spreads the force out over a larger span, whereas this mount seems to concentrate the force in one area. Bad tire mount design if you ask me. It maybe should have had some support to spread the load.

 

Had the same happen to mine on pass side . Reason that it happens 1. Weight of tire 2. Second gen beds suck due to the fact they have no support near the tailgate and that is what happened the bed flexed in and out so much that it created stress fractures which resulted in the cracks up and over the bed rail

 

if only i could go back in time

 

Maybe ask TcBob to change it? Poor Chris.. He's locked front and rear now though.

 

Correct, the cracked part is the metal skin of the bedside.

I have to park in a garage at work so that's a no go. With my luck I'd buckle the roof.

What he said, but they'll fight me anyway.

Nice.

I was very surprised to see how little structure there is under the bed rail cap. The only thing keeping the body together back there is the thin sheet metal that cracked, and it only overhangs the inside by an inch.